Special Antitero forces, photo: Barbara Gindl / AFP / Profimedia
The Swedish Security Service Sapo reduced the national terrorist alert level on Friday to the “high” alert, the same level evaluated before 2023, when it had been raised as a result of a set of Qur'an, reports Reuters.
Sapo had raised the level of threat to “high”, the second highest level, after several cases of high visibility in which anti-Islam activists burned children of the Koran, arousing the indignation of Muslims in several countries.
Sapo said that, after a period when Sweden had been designated as a specific target in the propaganda of the militants, it is now treated more and more as part of the West, in general.
“Sweden has passed from being a priority target to being a legitimate target for global violent Islamism,” said Sapo head, Charlotte von Essen, in a press conference. “The threat with attacks from violent extremism, in the traditional sense, is no longer as great as before,” she gave assurances.
Warning of Sweden's Security Service
Von Essen stressed that Sweden is not “immune”, however, and that attacks can take place at any time, regardless of the level of terrorist threat.
The fireproof's arson of 2023 caused angry protests, including assault and vandalizing the Sweden Embassy in Baghdad, as well as calls for violence from militant groups such as Hezbollah, Al Shabaab and Al Qaeda.
The supreme Iranian leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamena, also asked for severe punishment of those responsible and said that Sweden is in a state of confrontation with the Muslim world.
Salwan Momika, an Iraqi refugee behind most acts to set the Koran in Sweden in recent years, has been shot dead in Stockholm in January, a crime that has not yet been elucidated, but which the police think is related to its anti-Islamic activities.
Sapo also said that threats to Jews and Israeli targets in Sweden increased after the attack of October 7, 2023 on Israel, committed by fighters led by Hamas, who attracted the devastating military response of Israel on Gaza strip.
