Sweden, which raised its terrorist alert level this summer, saw its worst fears come true with the deaths of two of its fellow citizens in an attack in Brussels and is preparing to face a sustained threat.
• Also read: The suspected perpetrator of the Brussels attack is dead
• Also read: Terrorist attack in Brussels, two Swedes killed, gunman on the run
“Never in recent history have Sweden and Swedish interests been so threatened as they are today,” Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Tuesday during a press conference about the attack.
The Nordic country is mourning the attack that left two Swedish football fans dead and injured a third who came to the Belgian capital to watch the Belgium-Sweden European Championship qualifying match at 7pm on Monday evening. 17:00 GMT).
The perpetrator of the attack is a radicalized 45-year-old Tunisian who was staying in Belgium illegally. He was discovered by police on Tuesday and fatally injured.
According to the Swedish Prime Minister, he had visited Sweden.
“He stayed in Sweden for a short time around ten years ago,” Swedish Secret Service (Säpo) spokesman Fredrik Hultgren-Friberg told AFP, without saying whether he had lived or traveled in the country.
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“He may have used different identities during his travels in Europe,” he added.
It was “a terrorist attack against Sweden,” said the Swedish Prime Minister.
“The lives of two innocent people were ended. “These are two people who will never return home,” he remarked in a serious tone. “It’s incredibly sad.”
An honoring ceremony with the Swedish and Belgian prime ministers will take place in Brussels on Wednesday.
This attack is a sign that individuals “want to scare us and force us into silence and obedience,” said Mr. Kristersson. “It’s not going to happen”.
“It was risks of this kind that led the Säpo to increase the terror threat level from three to four last summer. “Today we would know with shocking clarity that there were reasons for the concerns raised by the government,” he added.
On August 17, Sweden had to raise its terror alert level on a scale from five to four as the Quran burnings in Sweden had raised tensions since the beginning of the year.
These desecrations dealt a blow to relations with several Muslim countries, with the Swedish embassy in Baghdad being set on fire in July, while a Molotov cocktail was aimed at the mission in Beirut in August.
At the same time, Al-Qaeda had called for terrorist attacks in the Scandinavian country.
“Put your jerseys away and go home!”
The secret services indicated on Tuesday that they are maintaining this vigilance. “This situation is serious and the Swedish security service expects it to continue,” it said.
But with the attack in Brussels, the threat to Swedish citizens suddenly became concrete.
“We looked at the Swedish fans and were very worried about their safety,” said Andreas Matz, a journalist for the Swedish public broadcaster who was present at the stadium and, like the fans, was accompanied to his hotel by the Swedish daily DN said the Belgian police.
“When you see the Swedish fans with their yellow jerseys, it is a wonderful joy (…) Now every time in the future I will say to myself: Damn, are you really going to wear these jerseys?”, he added.
The same astonishment struck the Swedish Football Association’s head of security, Martin Fredman.
“We told them to put away all their blue and yellow jerseys (colors of the Swedish flag, editor’s note) and go home,” Martin Fredman, the association’s head of security, told AFP.
“As Swedes, we are not used to being targeted,” he stressed.
Riding the bus “through the streets of Brussels accompanied by large numbers of police with automatic weapons and police weapons helping us gain access to our hotels is something few of us have experienced before,” Herr said Fredman.
“And yet I have worked as a police officer all my life,” he added.