Sweden considers deploying troops to stamp out gangland violence as PM holds crisis meeting after night of bloodshed in Stockholm and wave of 12 killings in a month including boy, 13

Sweden is considering deploying troops to stamp out gang violence that has killed 12 people this month. The country’s prime minister will hold crisis meetings with the head of the armed forces today.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has pledged to defeat criminal gangs and will today meet military chief Micael Byden and national police chief Anders Thornberg to “see how the armed forces can help police fight gangs.”

It comes after an 18-year-old rapper was executed on a sports field, a second man was shot dead and a 25-year-old woman was killed in a devastating bomb attack in Stockholm in a bloody 12 hours.

And this month was the deadliest yet, with shootings killing 12 people. This includes a 13-year-old boy who was found dead in woods on the outskirts of Stockholm after being shot in the head in yet another example of “gross and completely reckless gang violence,” prosecutors said.

The Scandinavian country has been in the grip of a bloody conflict in recent years between gangs battling over arms and drug trafficking, which has escalated due to revenge attacks between the gangs.

Apartment buildings and homes across the country are regularly rocked by explosions, while shootings, once confined to disadvantaged areas, become a regular occurrence in public places in the usually quiet, wealthy country.

‘We are going to hunt the gangs. We are going to beat the gangs,” Kristersson said in a televised address to the nation on Thursday evening, after three people were murdered on Wednesday night.

It is not yet clear how the military might become involved in the fight against gang violence, but previous meetings suggest that soldiers could take over some police shootings to free up specialized officers to fight crime.

Late on Wednesday, an 18-year-old rapper was shot dead at the Mälarhöjden sports field in Fruängen in southern Stockholm in a brutal attack during a football practice.

Within hours, one man was killed and another injured in a shooting in Jordbro, south of the Swedish capital. Minutes after police were called for reports of gunfire, a pickup truck crashed into an area home before two men ran from the vehicle.

And early Thursday morning, a 25-year-old woman died in an explosion that ripped through her home and four adjacent buildings in Storvreta, outside Uppsala, north of Stockholm.

Footage of the bomb’s aftermath shows the woman’s building torn apart, with smashed windows hanging haphazardly from the front of her home in a scene witnesses have likened to a war zone.

Police assume that the woman, a master’s student studying to become a teacher, was not the target of the bomb. The real target was a relative of gangster Rawa Majid, known as the ‘Purple Fox’, who lived next door to the victim but appeared to be away at the time, reports Aftonbladet.

“There were panicky screams and the smell of smoke,” said a neighbor of the young woman Express. “It was like we were in a war zone.”

Meanwhile, two people were killed and two others injured last Friday when a gunman opened fire in a busy bar in Sandviken, northwest of Stockholm.

And earlier this month, a 13-year-old boy, identified only as Milo, was found dead in the woods near his home on the outskirts of Stockholm.

Milo had been shot in the head in a chilling example of “gross and completely reckless gang violence,” prosecutor Lisa dos Santos said at the time. He is probably shot in Haninge, south of Stockholm.

“An increasing number of children and completely innocent people are affected by this extreme violence,” Kristersson said.

‘Sweden has never seen anything like this. No other country in Europe sees something like this.’

Criminal gangs have become a growing problem in Sweden, with an increasing number of drive-by shootings, bombings and grenade attacks. Most violence takes place in Sweden’s three largest cities: Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö.

The violence is fueled by a feud between Rawa Majid, who lives in Turkey, and his former lieutenant Ismail Abdo, known as ‘The Strawberry’, whose mother, a woman in her 60s, was shot on September 7 and later succumbed to her injuries died.

Twelve people were killed in shootings and explosions in September, the deadliest month in the past four years, according to a tally by Swedish public television SVT. The rise in murders has shocked Swedes.

“Crime has reached unprecedented levels. The situation is very serious in Uppsala and in the rest of the country,” Uppsala police officer Catarina Bowall told reporters.

Kristersson said serious organized crime has increased over the past decade “as a result of naivety.”

“Irresponsible immigration policies and failed integration have brought us here,” the Conservative leader said.

‘Swedish legislation is not intended for gang wars and child soldiers. But we are now changing that,” he said.

He noted that new legislation will come into force in the coming days that will allow police to tap gangs, as well as plans for body searches in some areas, tougher penalties for repeat offenders and double penalties for certain crimes.

“We will bring them to justice. If they are Swedish citizens, they are locked up with long prison sentences, and if they are foreigners, they are deported,” he said.

“We are going to deport foreigners who are in criminal gang circles, even if they have not committed a crime.”

He said Sweden should also introduce surveillance cameras in public places and build special prisons for teenage criminals.

In 2022, Sweden recorded 391 shootings, 62 of which were fatal.