Two Swedish nationals died Monday evening in Brussels, victims of a terrorist claiming to be inspired by the Islamic State group. In fact, Sweden has been in the sights of Islamist terrorists for several months.
The last threat dates back to September 15. That day, the Figaro discovers that in its propaganda magazine, Al Qaeda announces its intention to “hit a ministry in Paris” but also of “destroy a Swedish embassy”. “It is now clear that among the countries of the European Union, Sweden…rivaling France and Denmark…has chosen to take the lead in the war against Islam and Muslims”writes the organization.
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The terrorist organization’s text implicitly refers to both the ban on the abaya in French schools and the desecration of the Koran in Sweden which has considerably degraded the image of the kingdom in the Muslim world. At least four took place between January and July last year. First, it was a far-right activist who burned a Koran near the Turkish embassy. Then in June, in front of Stockholm’s largest mosque, an Iraqi refugee, who called for a ban on Islam’s holy book, slipped slices of bacon into it, trampled on it and tore it up before setting it on fire. It reissues twice, on July 20 and 31.
High risk of attack
These repeated provocations trigger a wave of anger in the Muslim world. In Iraq, demonstrators set fire to the Swedish embassy, the ambassador is expelled. Egypt, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Jordan summon Swedish representatives. Calls for boycotts and rallies are increasing. This is when several Islamist organizations call on their networks to make Sweden “a priority target”.
These desecrations were organized with the agreement of the authorities, in the name of freedom of expression and assembly, even if the Swedish police and courts assure that authorization does not constitute approval. Difficult balancing position. In June the Prime Minister distanced himself from the book burning that had just occurred without banning it.
In any case, Sweden knows that the risk of attack is high, both on its soil and against its nationals. Already in mid-August, it decided to raise its terrorist alert level, going from “high level” to “critical level”, exactly as in 2015 after the November 13 attacks in France and the threats from the Islamic State group. against the European continent. Its services, like others, are concerned about the resurgence of the risk of attack because, from Afghanistan, from the Syrian-Iraqi zone, from the Sahel and Yemen, Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group are gradually reconstituting their strengths and their projection capacity in Europe.