STOCKHOLM: One person was killed and another wounded Friday in a shooting near a mosque in southern Sweden, an attack police said they believed was linked to feuding organised crime gangs.
Local media quoted witnesses as saying at least one person was shot as he left the mosque in the town of Orebro, about 200 kilometres west of Stockholm.
Police said in a statement that a man “around the age of 25 died as a result of the wounds he suffered”. The condition of the second person was not disclosed.
Police provided no details about the deceased’s identity or the circumstances of the shooting, and urged the public to stay away from the scene as their search for the shooter continued several hours after the incident.
“We are currently actively pursuing the perpetrator or perpetrators,” police spokesman Anders Dahlman told AFP.
“We are interviewing witnesses and carrying out our technical investigation,” he said.
The shooting occurred as people were leaving the mosque after Friday prayers, sparking panic as people ran from the scene, local media reported.
One witness told Swedish public broadcaster SVT that he was standing just a few metres (yards) away from one of the men who was shot.
“He was on his way out of the mosque. Then another man came up and fired four, five shots,” said the witness, whose name was not disclosed.
In a statement, police said they believed the incident was linked to Sweden’s “criminal network milieu”.
Police spokesman Lars Hedelin told daily Aftonbladet the shooting was likely an “isolated incident” and not directed at the mosque itself.
Police said initially they had opened a preliminary investigation into attempted murder, which was changed to murder after the man’s death.
The Scandinavian country, once known for its low crime rates, has struggled for years to rein in organised crime.
Criminal networks are involved in drug and arms trafficking, and welfare fraud, with regular shootings and bombings plaguing the country in recent years.
Police say the leaders of the criminal networks increasingly operate from abroad. They orchestrate murders and attacks via social media, often recruiting young children under the age of criminal responsibility to carry out the attacks.
According to global database Statista, Sweden had the third highest number of homicides involving firearms per 100,000 inhabitants in Europe in 2022, behind Montenegro and Albania.
Data from Sweden’s National Council for Crime Prevention show that while shootings have declined since the peak year 2022, the number of explosions has increased.
The town of Orebro was the scene of a school shooting in February in which 11 people were killed, including the perpetrator. – AFP
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