STOCKHOLM, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- In 2020, Sweden reported an upsurge in gang violence, with 47 people killed and 117 injured in 366 shooting incidents, according to police statistics. The shootings have increased by 10 percent in 2020 from a year ago.
The capital Stockholm was particularly hard hit by this form of violence. Stockholm also saw a noticeable increase in the number of attacks with explosive devices. Nationwide, 215 such attacks were reported, compared to 257 in 2019.
Explaining the 10-percent increase, Home Affairs Minister Mikael Damberg told journalists on Monday that "In almost half of the shootings, someone was injured or killed. We will neither accept nor get used to such high levels of violence."
Damberg said that while the situation has improved in Malmo, a city in the south of Sweden previously considered a hotspot, it is deteriorating in the capital.
"In Stockholm, we saw a sharp increase of 79 percent in 2020."
Most of the shootings occurred in some 60 suburbs around the country that the police have identified as "vulnerable."
Damberg said that "5.4 percent of the country's population lives in vulnerable areas, but more than half of the fatal shootings take place in or adjacent to these areas."
In most cases, the victims have gang connections and therefore remain anonymous to the general public. However, some of the shootings result in far more news coverage. One example is a 31-year-old medical doctor who was killed in August 2019. She was carrying her two-year-old baby when she was shot in the street outside her home in Malmo.
In another incident, a 12-year-old girl was killed last summer in a drive-by shooting at a gas station outside Stockholm.
The police believe none of them were the intended victims and have made arrests in both cases. Enditem
