Sweden: Police say that bomb squad experts have been called in after four explosions in Swedish cities in just over an hour. The country is fighting to stop a rise in gang violence.
Just after 1 a.m. local time (2 a.m. GMT), two different explosions were reported to the police in Gothenburg. They happened 10 minutes apart.
“Both sites have been cordoned off, and technical investigations are ongoing,” the police said, adding that the national bomb squad had been called to the scene.
“No one has been hurt, but there has been damage to property,” cops said.
After an hour, there were reports of two more explosions in Norsborg, a suburb south of Stockholm, and Nykoping, which is about 100 kilometers south of the city.
The police said that no one was hurt in either case. All four explosions took place in homes.
In the past few years, Sweden has had a hard time stopping a rise in shootings and bombings. This is because gangs are using the drug trade to settle old scores.
But Gothenburg police told AFP that it was too soon to guess why the two blasts happened in the city.
Police records show that there were 90 explosions and 101 attempts or plans for bombings in Sweden in the year 2022.
As of August 15, there had been 109 explosions so far this year.
Police have said in the past that bombs are mostly used to scare people away, while guns are used to kill and get rid of enemies.
According to police statistics, there were 391 shootings in the country in 2022, and 62 of them were fatal. This was up from 45 the year before.
AFP
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