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Several people injured in sword attack at school in Sweden
x whatsapp-stroke copylink google Add Al Jazeera on Google info By Al Jazeera Staff , AFP and Reuters Published On 21 Aug 2026 21 Aug 2026 A person armed with a sword has injured several people in an attack at a school in central Sweden, authorities have said.
“An assailant armed with a sword has entered Brinellskolan [school] and wounded several people,” the Fagersta municipality said in a statement on Friday, adding that the suspect had been detained by police.
The school has some 450 students aged 16 to 20, the Reuters news agency reported.
Swedish police said in a statement that they received a call “regarding a case of ongoing deadly violence at a school in Fagersta”, confirming that one person had been taken into custody.
Police spokesman Pelle Vamstad, quoted by the TT news agency, said an alarm was received early on Friday afternoon and police rushed to the scene.
Public broadcaster SVT said ambulances, police cars and a police helicopter were outside the school in the small city of about 12,000 people.
Vamstad said authorities would be looking for camera footage that could be used in the preliminary investigation.
“Police are continuing to work at the scene with a number of different resources,” the police statement said. “The public is urged to respect the roadblocks and listen to police instructions.”
Fagersta municipality did not specify the number of wounded but said police were searching the school and that other schools in the area had been locked down.
Aftonbladet newspaper reported that a person wielding a machete had been shot in the leg by police. This report could not immediately be confirmed.
“A serious incident has occurred today in Fagersta at a school, right after the summer break,” Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said in a statement on X after the attack.
“We do not yet know what lies behind the act, but we know that the police are working very intensively.”
Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer said the government was closely following the situation.
“The police are on site and are working very intensively on the incident. The government is in close contact with the police and is monitoring developments on an ongoing basis,” he said.
Sweden has seen some high-profile attacks at educational institutions.
In February 2025, a 35-year-old man killed 10 people at an adult education centre in Orebro – Sweden’s worst mass shooting. Police said it was motivated by the killer’s wish to end his life because of financial and psychological woes.
In March 2022, an 18-year-old student fatally stabbed two teachers at a secondary school in the southern city of Malmo.
And in October 2015, three people were killed in a racially motivated attack at a school in the western town of Trollhattan by a sword-wielding assailant who was killed by police.
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