Swedish police report 3 blasts amid surge in explosions this year

Swedish police have arrested two people following three explosions on Tuesday in the capital and the south of the country, which has witnessed 30 bombings already this month.

It was not immediately clear if the blasts were linked to gang violence -- which has surged in the Scandinavian country as rival drugs gangs settle scores -- but police indicated they were treating the incidents as suspicious.

Two explosions occurred in the south of Stockholm on Tuesday morning, hours after a blast outside a villa in Helsingborg, police said.

No injuries were reported.

Two people were detained in the vicinity of the second Stockholm blast.

Police spokesman Daniel Wikdahl told AFP they were arrested because they had outstanding arrest warrants against them.

But they were also considered to be suspects in the explosion because of their identities and their location close to the blast.

"All of this makes them of high interest," Wikdahl said.

This year has seen a sharp uptick in the number of bomb blasts in Sweden, with more than one a day on average since January 1.

There have been 30 since the start of the year, the majority in the Stockholm area, compared to 13 registered in the whole of January 2024.

On Friday, Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer called a meeting with police after the Nordic country witnessed 24 bomb blasts in as many days.

"This is a situation that a decent society can't accept," Strommer told newspaper Dagens Nyheter after the meeting.

Sweden has seen sharp a rise in gang shootings and bombs.

The perpetrators are often young teens, hired as contract killers because they are under the age of criminal responsibility, which is 15.

Many of the bombs are believed to be linked to attempts to blackmail companies or individuals, police said on Friday.

"Young people are used to commit serious offences and often the masterminds are based in other countries," Max Akerwall, deputy police chief for southern Stockholm, said.