An Iraqi man who burned copies of the Koran in Sweden has been killed in a shooting, Swedish authorities say.
Swedish police said Salwan Momika was shot dead in a house in Sodertalje, a town near Stockholm, on Wednesday, hours before a court verdict was due in a trial in connection with his burning of the Koran.
Five people have been been arrested, but police did not say whether the gunman was among those detained.
Mr Momika, a refugee and anti-Islam campaigner, staged several desecrations of Islam’s holy book in public or in social media broadcasts in 2023.
Worldwide publicity of the burnings caused widespread anger and criticism, as well as riots in Sweden and numerous Muslim countries.
Sweden’s prime minister has expressed concern the shooting may be linked to a foreign power.
“I can assure you that the security services are deeply involved because there is obviously a risk that there is a connection to a foreign power,” Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said at a news conference on Thursday.
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A court in Stockholm had been due to sentence Mr Momika, 38, and another man on Thursday over “offences of agitation against an ethnic or national group,” in connection with the Koran burnings.
The court said the verdict was postponed because one of the defendants had died.
Judge Goran Lundahl and court documents confirmed Mr Momika was the deceased.
Meanwhile, police said they were alerted to a shooting in Sodertalje on Wednesday night.
Officers found a man with gunshot wounds, who later died. A preliminary murder investigation was opened.
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The 38-year-old was streaming live on TikTok at the time he was shot, local media has reported.
A video seen by news agency Reuters showed police picking up a phone and ending a livestream that appeared to be from his account on the app.
In 2023, Sweden raised its terrorism threat to the second-highest level after Koran burnings, many of them by Mr Momika, triggered threats from jihadists.
Burning the Koran is seen by Muslims as a blasphemous act because they consider it the literal word of God.
