Sweden’s leader seeks military help amid unprecedented wave of deadly gang violence
- Sweden gripped by a deadly crime wave with almost daily shootings and bombings
- Getting military involved in crime-fighting would be a highly unusual step for Sweden
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson vowed to defeat criminal gangs with the military’s help after a surge of violence that has killed a growing number of children and innocent victims.
Kristersson was expected to meet on Friday with the national chief of police and the commander in chief of the military “to see how the armed forces can help the police fight the gangs”.
The Scandinavian country has in recent years been in the grip of a bloody conflict between gangs fighting over arms and drug trafficking, which has escalated over vendettas between the gangs.
Residential blocks and homes across the country are frequently rocked by explosions, while shootings, once limited to disadvantaged areas, have become regular occurrences in public places in the usually tranquil, wealthy country.
“We are going to hunt down the gangs. We are going to defeat the gangs,” Kristersson said in a televised address to the nation on Thursday evening, after three people were killed overnight on Wednesday.