Thread: Sweden Fears ISIS Cell May Attack Eurovision Song Contest Final

The Swedish security service believes 7 or 8 Islamic State terrorists have already entered the country. Security has been increased.

Tue, May 3, 2016

Sweden upped security at tourist and other locations this week, believing seven or eight ISIS terrorists entered the country. Security forces fear an attack on the final of Europe’s much-lauded Eurovision Song Contest slated for the Stockholm Globe Arena on May 14, according to media reports.

"We have received information from Iraqi security officials that seven to eight ISIS terrorists have entered Sweden to carry out acts of terror in Stockholm," Expressen reported the Swedish security service as saying.

"According to the information, the terrorists are planning to attack civilian targets in the capital."

European police chiefs are concerned ISIS-linked and other terrorists are using as cover the wave of migrants fleeing the Syrian civil war.

Sweden also has one of the highest per capita rates in Europe for citizens traveling to the Middle East to join the Islamic State. The figure currently quoted is around 300.

SWEDEN FEARS ISIS CELL MAY ATTACK EUROVISION SONG CONTEST FINAL

My Sweden of Today: A First Hand Account of a Changing Society

Our society is changing, and there is anxiety about it. We have a problem and we are only beginning to grasp the magnitude of it.

BY ANNIKA BORG May 4th, 2016

Swedish migrants/refugees brawl with police (Photo: Video screenshot)

The security situation in Sweden is quite unclear. Not even the authorities seem to have a satisfying or overall picture. What is known is that hundreds of men and women have traveled to Syria and Iraq to join the Islamic State terrorist group (ISIS/ISIL).

Swedish Security Service has said 300-400 have left the country, but the figures have not been updated recently so the actual numbers are most likely much higher.

Then there is the problem of these jihadi fighters returning, which has been happening. Recently, a court in Gothenburg convicted a terrorist for a crime he had committed in Syria.

Osama Krayem, a Swedish citizen, one of the terrorists in Brussels (and possibly Paris), returned to Europe from Syria with the migrant/refugee influx during the fall of 2015.

When you ask politicians, security and police they confirm that there might be terrorists coming into the country with the influx of migrants and refugees to Sweden. But they point out that there are very few and underline the importance of not putting blame on people seeking shelter and a future in Sweden.

Good point, of course.

However, no one really knows or has control over the security situation with regards to the influx of migrants/refugees entering Sweden. Chaos reigns when it comes to identifying those who have entered the country for ulterior purposes.

A couple of months ago, there was information about an Islamic State cell in Sweden and an alert about an attack. However, there was not much information given to the public about it.

Our society is changing, and there is anxiety about it. People are being told by authorities to be alert.

Just this morning, I heard on the news that the authorities discovered a father preparing to send his children to Syria to train as terrorists. The father was arrested and the children taken into care by the social services.

I could hardly believe my ears. This is my Sweden of today.

Several years ago a Somali journalist made a radio program exposing recruitment to Al Shabaab in the Somali community in the suburbs of Stockholm. She felt silenced by media.

Radicalization has been growing in our suburbs around the country for decades. We have a problem and we are only beginning to grasp the magnitude of it. By “we,” I mean politicians, authorities and media.

People like me and others have been trying to point this out for years.

MY SWEDEN OF TODAY: A FIRST HAND ACCOUNT OF A CHANGING SOCIETY