Sweden is putting the armed forces on the streets in order to deal with the unprecedented wave of crime that has rocked the country lately.

Sweden’s prime minister said on Thursday that he had called the head of the army to discuss the serious issue and how the Armed Forces can help tackle the problem and “fight criminal gangs”. Today, Friday, he will have a meeting with the supreme commander of the armed forces and the head of the police.

“Sweden has never seen anything like this, no other country in Europe has seen anything like this,” Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristerson said in a speech yesterday, Thursday.

The reason for this decision was the death of three people yesterday alone – since the beginning of the month, deaths from shootings or bombings have reached twelve. The majority of the deaths were bystanders who happened to be at the scene or people who were mistakenly identified by the perpetrators. Many of the victims were young.

It is currently unclear how the military will be involved, but involving the military in fighting crime would be a highly unusual step for Sweden.

Unprecedented violence and criminality

Sweden has been grappling with gang violence for years, but the spike in shootings and assaults in September was a major concern to the Swedish government.

Three people were killed overnight in separate attacks involving criminal gangs, which often recruit teenagers from disadvantaged immigrant neighborhoods to carry out hits.

On the night of Wednesday to Thursday, around 4 am, an explosive device killed a 25-year-old woman in the suburb of Uppsala. Five houses were damaged, the police said on their website.

It is noted that the perpetrators of these violent incidents are increasingly young.