Sweden’s fears realised in Brussels ‘terror attack’

Stockholm – Just two months after raising its threat level, Sweden was reeling in shock on Tuesday over the killing of two of its football fans in a “terror attack” targeting Swedes in Brussels.

The country’s worst fears were realised when a suspected Islamist of Tunisian origin living illegally in Belgium gunned down two Swedes and injured a third on Monday evening on a street, just before the start of a Belgium-Sweden international football match.

The attacker had served a prison sentence in Sweden during the period 2012-2014, Swedish officials revealed Tuesday.

The Swedish government, football fans and the public have expressed their devastation over the attack.

“Sweden has in modern times never been under as big a threat as now,” Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told reporters in Stockholm.

“Every indication is that this is a terror attack, targeting Sweden and Swedish citizens, just because they are Swedes,” he said, adding he felt an “unfathomable sadness”.

In August, Sweden’s intelligence service Sapo raised its threat level to four on a scale of five after a series of Koran burnings across the country — most notably by an Iraqi Christian — sparked outrage in the Muslim world and made the Scandinavian country a “prioritised target”.

“It was risks like this that were the reason Sapo this summer raised the threat level from three to four,” Kristersson said.

“Now we know with chilling clarity that there was cause for the concern that they and we in the government described,” he added.

“We are living in dark times.”

– ‘More security’ –

In a social media post after the killings, the gunman had boasted of being inspired by the Islamic State extremist group.

Several Belgian media named the suspect as Abdesalem Lassoued, aged 45.

Sweden’s Migration Agency said Tuesday the attacker had served a prison sentence in Sweden during 2012-2014.

Spokesman Jesper Tengroth declined to elaborate on what he was convicted of or how long a sentence he served, but said the man had been transferred from Sweden “to another European country under the Dublin Regulation” after having served his sentence.

Sapo spokesman Fredrik Hultgren-Friberg told AFP earlier Tuesday that the man “may have used different identities when he travelled around Europe”.

The Swedish foreign ministry said the victims were a man in his 70s from the Stockholm region and a man in his 60s living abroad. The injured Swede was a man in his 70s currently in hospital.

It advised Swedes abroad “to observe increased caution and heightened vigilance.”

Kristersson and his Belgian counterpart Alexander De Croo are to attend a ceremony in Brussels on Wednesday honouring the victims and paying tribute to Belgian police.

The Swedish prime minister vowed “to protect our open, democratic society”.

“They want to scare us into silence… That’s not going to happen,” he said.

However, he stressed “this is a time for more security, more caution, more vigilance.”

“We simply can’t be naive.”

– ‘Not used to being targets’ –

The head of security for Sweden’s football association, Martin Fredman, told AFP he had advised Swedish football fans in Brussels on Monday “to pack away their yellow-and-blue jerseys” — so they wouldn’t be potential targets — “and fly home”.

He said it was an unusual situation for Swedes.

“We’re not used to being targets.”

He told Swedish media at least one of the victims was wearing a yellow jersey.

The Euro qualifying match was halted at half-time and Swedish fans were ordered to stay put for several hours until they could be evacuated safely with police escorts.

Andreas Matz, a Swedish journalist covering the match, told newspaper Dagens Nyheter he had always associated Sweden’s yellow team jerseys with “such joy, excitement and celebrations”.

“Now in the future I’m always going to think, ‘damn, are you really going to wear the jerseys?’,” he said.

“It’s so unbelievably awful that you can be a target because you’re wearing the yellow jersey.”

Roger Svalhede, a 54-year-old fan, said the mood in the stadium was “totally surrealistic” when word of the attack began to spread. 

“You couldn’t believe it was true,” he told AFP after landing in Stockholm on Tuesday.

“The whole ambiance in the stands just collapsed.”

He said he and his friends could easily have been the ones targeted.

“We walked past the area where the shooting happened several times.”

Late Monday, Sweden coach Janne Andersson said he reacted with disbelief when he received the news at half-time.

“It was totally unreal. What kind of world are we living in today,” he said.