Gang violence escalates in Sweden

A woman who died in an explosion in Uppsala, west of Stockholm, in the early hours of Thursday became the 12th victim of gang violence fatality in Sweden since the beginning of September, making it the country's deadliest month in four years.

The woman, who was in her mid-20s, was killed by an explosive device believed to have been intended to harm or intimidate a known gang member living in the same neighborhood of Uppsala, reported Xinhua, quoting Swedish Television (SVT).

"The violence is inhumane, incomprehensible and limitless," SVT quoted Catarina Bowall, commanding officer at the Uppsala police, as saying at a press conference.

Late on Wednesday, two young men were killed in separate shootings in two suburbs of Stockholm. The police believe that both incidents are linked to criminal gangs.

Although most of the 42 people shot to death so far this year were members of criminal gangs, citizens are becoming increasingly worried as at least seven of those killed in the last year are believed to have become collateral victims, SVT reported.

Since last October, a further 11 people with no known or suspected ties to criminal gangs have been injured in shootings, SVT reported.

"It's bad enough that the gangs shoot and kill each other, but when completely innocent people end up in the line of fire, it's absolutely horrific," said Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson at a press conference following a shooting at a pub on Sept. 21.

Ordinary citizens are also getting fed up with the increasingly indiscriminate violence.

"I've lived here for 20 years, but in recent years it has become messy," a witness to the pub shooting in Sandviken, some 190 kilometers northwest of Stockholm, told Dagens Nyheter newspaper.

Following another recent fatal shooting in a suburb of Stockholm, a witness told Aftonbladet newspaper that she was living in fear.

"This is awful. There have been so many reports of shootings in the area and I'm now afraid to walk my dog," she said.

In recent decades, Sweden has witnessed an increase in gun violence. In a study of 23 European countries released in 2021, the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention found that Sweden had moved from the lowest number of shootings to the highest during the years 2000 to 2019.

The trend has since continued and ahead of last year's election, a poll of 25,000 individuals revealed that Swedish people ranked crime as the most important issue. This sentiment had not been seen since the late 1970s, SVT reported.

There have been more than 130 bombings in Sweden since January and in the first six months this year alone, there were more bombings than last year's total of 90.

On Wednesday, Sweden's government held its second crisis meeting in nine days about the gang violence, which the national police commissioner has described as "unprecedented."

"The situation is very serious. Bombings are extraordinarily bad as many innocent people are affected," Minister for Justice Gunnar Strommer told SVT following the meeting.

Among the measures, funding for the judicial system is being increased considerably and a new national explosives registry will be established.

Harder penalties and harsher sentences for gun crimes and the illegal possession of explosives will soon apply, and police and social services would be able to exchange information more easily.

Criminal gangs are, however, a headache not just for Sweden's judicial system, as they are also expanding their activities abroad, such as Costa del Sol in southern Spain, where nearly a thousand Swedish criminals have relocated, a police spokesperson told SVT in July.

Authorities in Sweden's western neighbor Norway, where only four gun killings occurred last year, are getting increasingly worried after noticing that Swedish criminal gangs are expanding their operations there.