Three people have been killed overnight in separate incidents in Sweden as deadly violence linked to a feud between criminal gangs escalated.
Late on Wednesday, an 18-year-old man was shot dead in a Stockholm suburb. Hours later, one man was killed and another was wounded in a shooting in Jordbro, south of the Swedish capital.
Early on Thursday a woman in her 20s died in an explosion in Uppsala, west of Stockholm.
The blast, which damaged five houses, is being treated by the police as murder. Swedish media said the woman who died likely was not the target of the blast.
Swedish broadcaster SVT noted that the two fatal shootings brings the death toll from gun violence in September to 11, making it the deadliest month for shootings since police started keeping statistics in 2016.
It was not known whether the shootings or the blast were related, but Swedish media said at least two of the three events were connected to a feud between criminal gangs, a growing problem in Sweden with drive-by shootings and bombings.
Two gangs – one led by a Swedish-Turkish dual national who lives in Turkey, the other by his former lieutenant – are reportedly fighting over drugs and weapons.
Three people have been detained in relation to the fatal shooting in Jordbro.
Police said that two people have been arrested over the Uppsala explosion, which was so violent that the facades of two houses were blown away.
Earlier this week, two powerful explosions ripped through dwellings in central Sweden, injuring at least three people and damaging buildings, with bricks and window sections left spread outside.
Sweden’s centre-right government has been tightening laws to tackle gang-related crime, while the head of Sweden’s police has said that warring gangs have brought an “unprecedented” wave of violence to the country.
Earlier this week, justice minister Gunnar Strommer reiterated that Sweden will increase the penalty from three years to five years for possessing explosives without a permit as of April 1 when a new legislation enters into force.
Magadalena Andersson, the leader of the main opposition party, the Social Democrats, told Swedish radio SR that the military could be performing certain functions to free up police by carrying out some transportation and guard functions.
Mr Strommer said that it was “not relevant to deploy the military”, but that he was prepared to listen to all parties when it comes to solving the wave of violence.
