Sweden heightens terror alert after Quran desecrations

STOCKHOLM: Sweden´s intelligence agency heightened its terror alert level on Thursday to four on a scale of five after angry reactions in the Muslim world to Holy Quran burnings in Sweden made the country a “prioritised target”.

The level was increased from “Elevated”, where it had been since 2016, to “High”, the head of the Swedish Security Service (Sapo) Charlotte von Essen told reporters.

“The reason for this decision is the deteriorated situation with regard to attack threats to Sweden, and the assessment that the threat will remain for a long time,” she said. She urged Swedes to continue to go about their lives “as normal” but to “be aware” and “stay informed”.

Von Essen stressed the decision was not based on a “single incident”, but rather a “collective assessment”. She said the attack threat “posed by violent actors has increased in the past year”.

“Sweden has gone from being considered a legitimate target for terrorist attacks to being considered a prioritised target,” she explained.

Sweden, like neighbouring Denmark, has in recent months seen a spate of public desecrations of the Quran, including burnings, which have sparked widespread outrage and condemnation in Muslim countries.

Those incidents “have contributed to the image of Sweden as a country hostile to Muslims,” the head of the National Centre for Terrorist Threat Assessment, Ahn-Za Hagstrom, told reporters at the same press conference.

Iraqi protesters stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad twice in July, starting fires within the compound on the second occasion.

The Jeddah-based Organisation of Islamic Cooperation has also voiced “disappointment” with Sweden and Denmark for not taking action following the burnings.