The Terror Threat Landscape in Scandinavia

For businesses and individuals, the terror threat in Scandinavia is something to keep an eye on currently. This can be especially true if you’re planning a large-scale event and security is a priority, which it always should be.

There was a recent attack in Norway that’s being classified as terror, and below, we go into more detail about that, as well as what else to know currently about similar threats in the region.

Recent Attack in Norway

Five people died after an attack in Kongsberg, a town southwest of Oslo. A 37-year-old Danish man was arrested in connection. Police say they had previously been in contact with him after fears he was radicalized following his conversion to Islam.

The victims of the bow-and-arrow attack were between the ages of 50 and 70.

The attacker began the rampage at a Coop Extra supermarket on the west side of the town. One person who was injured was an off-duty police officer in the store at the time.

The attack was the deadliest in Norway since far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik murdered 77 people, most of them at a Labour Party summer camp in July 2011. The mayor of Kongsberg, Kari Anne Sand, said it was shocking that the attack had taken place in an area where so many people live.

Norwegian police officers aren’t usually armed, but following the attack all police were told to carry firearms as a precaution.

The Norwegian officials said despite the attack, they didn’t feel there was a need to change the national terror threat level.

Swedish Terror Attack in March 2021

Earlier this year, there was an attack in Sweden. A man attacked eight people, seriously injuring two in Vetlanda. The police described it as a suspected terrorist crime shortly after that.

The man, said to be in his 20s used a “sharp weapon” to carry out the attack. Initially, police described the event as attempted murder but then changed it to a suspected terrorist crime.

In Sweden, according to intelligence services, the terrorist threat is high. Sweden has been targeted twice with terrorist attacks in recent years.

In December 2010, a suicide bomber carried out an attack in the center of Stockholm. He was killed, but passersby were only slightly injured. In April 2017, a rejected Uzbek asylum seeker hit pedestrians in Stockholm with a stolen truck. He killed five people and was ultimately sentenced to life in prison in 2018.

Other European Attacks

While it happened in Vienna, a late 2020 attack led Swedish police to take notice as well. Swedish police put their forces on high national alert after militant attacks in Europe. A gunman in Vienna killed four and injured 22 in the city’s center before being killed by police.

While police were on high alert in Sweden following the event, the overall terrorism threat level remained unchanged.

France, around the same time, also dealt with a number of incidents.

Swedish police said at the time the country’s threat level remained at a three on a scale of 5, indicating a heightened level of alert.

The head of Operations at the National Operations Department in Sweden released a statement at the time saying the declaration of a national alert allowed for more flexibility to prevent an attack and react if something did occur.

National alerts also let police set up a task force that’s specialized outside the typical organization structure and it can be used for national threats, terrorist disasters, or football matches.

In February of this year, German and Danish authorities arrested 14 people on suspicion of planning one or more terrorist attacks. Another 13 suspects were arrested in separate incidents, and German authorities said they’d arrested another person in a case linked to the investigation.

Suspects, according to authorities, were charged with acquiring the components needed to make explosives and acquiring firearms, among other charges. Of the 13 people detained in Demark, eight were men, and five were women.

Investigators said during their searches they made troubling discoveries, including ingredients for making bombs. An ISIS flag was also found, but authorities said there wasn’t an imminent danger at the time of the arrests.

Overall View of the Risks

In recent years, concerns about terrorist attacks seem to have gone up in Scandinavian countries. For example, in 2011 only 8% of surveyed Danish people said they were worried that a terrorist attack would very likely occur in their country. By 2015, that number had gone up to 27%. By 2018, the number of respondents concerned about terrorism was more than half.

Ulani Uriah

Umar Nisar was born and raised in the busy city of Abbottabad. As a journalist, Umar Nisar has contributed to many online publications including PAK Today and the Huffing Post. In regards to academics, Umar Nisar earned a degree in business from the Abbottabad UST, Havelian. Umar Nisar follows the money and covers all aspects of emerging tech here at The Hear Up.

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