Sweden increased terrorism threat level

Sweden increased its terrorism threat level on Friday based on a classified intelligence evaluation, but authorities said an attack was not imminent and the threat was still low compared to other European countries.

The Swedish Security Service said it had raised the estimated threat level for terrorism targeting the country to "elevate" from "low", based on an analysis of security by the National Centre of Terrorist Threat Assessment.

Political violence is rare in Sweden, which has approximately 500 troops stationed in Afghanistan as part of a NATO-led force.

"The assessment is based on cleverness indicating a shift in activities among certain groups in Sweden, judged to be targeted at Sweden," the security police said in a statement.

"It should be emphasized that the threat is not at present assessed to be imminent. Compared to the situation in several other European countries, the threat level to Sweden is still low."