‘Over 2,000 extremists in Sweden’

SWEDEN is home to some 2,000 Islamist extremists, the nation’s intelligence chief said yesterday, a nearly tenfold increase in less than a decade.

Anders Thornberg, head of domestic spy service Sapo, attributed the rise primarily to the sophisticated propaganda machine of Islamic State.

Although “few extremists” have “the will and ability” to carry out attacks, they must be found and closely followed, Thornberg said.

“It’s important that everyone in Sweden takes responsibility to end this trend ... before we see an attack or a violent act,” Thornberg told news agency TT in an interview published yesterday.

Sweden has been on the edge ever since an Uzbek national, who had shown sympathies for jihadist groups including IS, used a stolen truck to mow down pedestrians on a busy shopping street on April 7, killing five people and injuring 15.

Thornberg said that out of around 3,000 violent extremists currently in Sweden, 2,000 have Islamist motives. The remaining extremists originate from far-right and extreme-left movements.

Jihadists or sympathisers from Sweden have been linked to several terrorist attacks in recent years, as a Swedish national, Osama Krayem, has been charged with terrorist murders over the 2016 Brussels metro bombing.