COPENHAGEN: Police in Denmark and Sweden said on Wednesday they were probing explosions and gunfire around Israeli embassies in their capitals which took place amid spiralling Middle East tensions.

In Denmark, police said three Swedish nationals had been arrested after two blasts, likely from hand grenades, in the “immediate proximity” of the Israeli embassy in Copenhagen.

Swedish police said the Israeli embassy in Stockholm had been targeted in a shooting on Tuesday just before 6pm. No injuries were reported from the incidents but both came amid heightened international fears as Iran fired missiles at Israel which has vowed to respond to the attack.

“Two explosions occurred at 3:20am at the Israeli embassy. It is our preliminary assessment that it was due to two hand grenades,” Jens Jespersen of Copenhagen police told a press conference.

Sweden’s intelligence agency accuses Iran of recruiting gangs as proxies to commit ‘acts of violence’

He added that three Swedes aged between 15 and 20 had been arrested. The police officer said one suspect was arrested shortly after the incident near the crime scene, and that the other two were arrested later. Police said earlier that two suspects were arrested on a train at Copenhagen Central Station.

“It’s too early to say if there is a link” between the blasts and the Israeli embassy, Danish police spokesman Jakob Hansen said of the incidents.

Denmark’s intelligence service, PET, said it was monitoring events “closely” and assisting the police investigation. “We are also in dialogue with the Israeli embassy about security, and are constantly assessing the scale of the security measures already implemented in relation to a number of Jewish locations,” PET said in a statement.

Writing on X, Israel’s ambassador to Denmark David Akov said he was “shocked by the appalling incident near the embassy”.

The building is in Copenhagen’s upscale Hellerup neighbourhood, home to many embassies. The three arrests come after Denmark beefed up its border controls with neighbouring Sweden, on the heels of mounting gang violence over the summer. Danish gangs are suspected of recruiting Swedish youths for attacks.

Swedish public broadcaster SVT reported on Wednesday that the Swedish gang Foxtrot ordered the attacks on the Israeli embassies in Copenhagen and Stockholm, citing unidentified sources.

Sweden’s intelligence agency Sapo in May accused Iran of recruiting Swedish gang members as proxies to commit “acts of violence” against Israel, which Tehran denied. At the time, Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter cited documents from Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad as saying that Foxtrot leader Rawa Majid and his archrival Ismail Abdo, head of the Rumba gang, had both been recruited by Iran.

Heavy surveillance

Swedish police said in a statement that information indicated the Israeli embassy building in Stockholm had been hit by shots on Tuesday evening. “We’ve made finds that indicate a shooting at Israel’s embassy, but we don’t want to disclose exactly what finds have been made since there is an ongoing investigation,” Rebecca Landberg, Stockholm police press officer, said.

Landberg added that an investigation had been opened into an aggravated weapons offence, endangerment of others and unlawful threats. Police had made no arrests, but Landberg said police were actively gathering and analysing material from the many surveillance cameras in the area. Swedish Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer called the incident “serious”.

Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas conflict in Oct 2023, several incidents seemingly targeting Israeli interests in Sweden have been reported. In February, police found a grenade in the Israeli embassy compound grounds, which the ambassador said was an attempted attack.

In May, gunshots were fired outside the embassy, which prompted Sweden to boost security around Israeli interests and Jewish community institutions. Swedish authorities have also registered a rise in anti-Semitic incidents since the Gaza conflict erupted.

Published in Dawn, October 3rd, 2024