Sweden’s prime minister has called on the armed forces chief and police commissioner to end gang violence, which has killed 11 people this month alone, reports RTE.
Two people were killed in separate shootings in the capital Stockholm on Wednesday.
A 20-year-old woman, believed to be an innocent bystander, was killed yesterday morning when a bomb destroyed a house in Uppsala.
“This is a difficult time for Sweden. A 25-year-old woman went to bed … on a completely ordinary evening but never got to wake up. We will hunt the gangs, we will defeat the gangs,” Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said during a rare televised address to the nation, reports RTE.
Mr Kristerson formed a centre-right minority government after last year’s election with the support of the populist and anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, ending eight years of Social Democrat-led rule.
“It is an irresponsible immigration policy and a failed integration that has brought us here,” he said, reports RTE.
Sweden has had a liberal immigration policy for decades and welcomed more immigrants per capita than any other European country during the 2015 migration crisis.
This policy was reversed by the previous Social Democrat-led government, but tightened by Christerson’s government.
About 20% of Sweden’s 10.5 million inhabitants were born abroad.
Earlier this week, a gunman opened fire at a bar in Sandviken, killing two people and wounding two others.
The 11 deaths make it the deadliest month since December 2019.
“The criminal conflicts in Sweden are a serious threat to the safety and security of the country. Innocents are murdered and injured. We are doing everything we can within the police and together with others to stop the development,” National Police Commissioner Anders Thornberg said in a statement, reports RTE.
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