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Why did the Brussels attacker target Swedes on Monday October 16? The country raised its alert level during the summer, after Korans were burned in Stockholm, in front of a mosque.
It is since these events, in June and then July 2023, that Sweden has been designated as a target of Islamist terrorism: book burnings, such as in front of the Stockholm mosque (Sweden), or in front of the Swedish Parliament. The gesture is then authorized by the country’s authorities, in the name of freedom of expression. He started riots. In August, the intelligence services decided to raise the attack alert level, for the first time in seven years.
Target “priority of violent Islamism”
“Over the year the threat to Sweden has gradually evolved. We have gone from being a legitimate target to being a priority target of violent Islamism on a global scale.“, explained Charlotte Von Essen, the head of the Swedish intelligence services. In its magazine, in the Arabian Peninsula, Al-Qaeda designated Sweden as a target a month ago.