This week we reveal the deadliest place in Europe to be a young man. It is the suburbs of Stockholm and other major Swedish cities.
That's largely because of gun deaths caused by two feuding Kurdish-controlled gangs has soared.
Travelling through Sweden's bare concrete housing block estates, a 16-year old gave us some understanding of how he was sucked into the world of gangs.
Alan revealed how Rawa Majid, 39, the man know as the Kurdish Fox, rewards his teenage killers despite years of exile. Sitting in the back of a car on the way to an underground interview point, Alan smiles as he talks nonchalantly about the buzz he got from shooting his rival criminals.
“It’s fun. It's crazy for the first two hours when you have done it, then you start to run because you don’t want the police to see you,” he told The National.
He is one of hundreds of teenagers in Sweden involved in the violence. Gangsters such as those in the Foxtrot network, run by Majid, recruit children to attack rivals – in the knowledge that, under Swedish law, anyone under the age of 15 cannot be prosecuted.
Rawa Majid, left, known as the Kurdish Fox, and a teenager who spoke to The National as part of an investigation into the Foxtrot Kurdish criminal network operating in Sweden. Nick Donaldson / The National
A mother whose son was shot dead in his car outside the family home warned a culture of fear is gripping Sweden as rival gangs run riot.
Tulun Tas found Emirhan slumped in his car just metres from their home in Norsborg, near Stockholm. With the engine still running, she realised he had been shot. He died in hospital shortly afterwards.
To his mother, Emirhan was a “funny” child who wanted to turn a love for Lego into a career in engineering. Not a day goes by that she does not miss his presence. “[My son] helped me from the day he was eight years old to the day he died,” she said.
Ms Tas has broken her silence to speak out on her fears the 18 year old had been caught up in gang violence that has exploded across Sweden – and her determination to find his killer.
And it is Majid, an internationally wanted gangster, who is directing the gangland warfare.
Dark days
Swedish police said this week that a suspect linked to the Foxtrot network was arrested after the seizure of cocaine in the south-west of the country, weighing at least 200kg. It is one of a series of busts the authorities have made in recent years.
Sweden must abandon its policy of “silent diplomacy” with Iran as it faces a wave of gangland warfare orchestrated by Majid, a leading politician told The National.
Stockholm should publicly call for Iran to hand over Majid, who is hiding there to avoid facing justice for a string of offences, said Alireza Akhondi, who was born in Iran and is a prominent critic of the regime.
Majid’s feud with Ismail Abdo, a one-time close associate nicknamed “Strawberry”, who runs the rival Rumba network, led to a series of tit-for-tat killings.
The Foxtrot boss has also been accused of carrying out attacks on Israeli targets on behalf of Iran, for which he has been placed under sanctions by the US.
Two men found guilty of planning a mass attack in Manchester were plotting for ISIS. Walid Saadaoui, 38, and Amar Hussein, 52, had a “visceral dislike” of Jewish people and wanted to cause “untold harm”, Preston Crown Court heard on Tuesday.
As is patently clear from the deadly attacks in Manchester and Sydney this year, ISIS-inspired gunmen have formed a new archetype.
In January 2024, the group’s propaganda channels used the aftermath of the Hamas-led attacks inside Israel on October 7, 2023 and the subsequent outbreak of war in Gaza to instruct loyalists to kill Jews wherever they could find them. Investigators reportedly believe this was instrumental in both deadly attacks. In Africa, where ISIS loyalists are besieging important capitals, there is little doubt of the resurgence of its influence as a major local power.
It has been clear for 15 years that ISIS works along existing fault lines to boost its pulling power. It wants to attract people to pledge their loyalty to it and carry out its goals.
Cities in France and Belgium bore the brunt of one phase of the ISIS era that has hallmarks of what is happening today. The faultline that ISIS sought out was centred on laying down differences in lifestyles that could become divisive issues. Last year, the Taylor Swift tour became a target for a plot that had the same objectives.
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One showed 28 per cent of female students at a Dubai university reported symptoms linked to depression. Another in Al Ain found 22.2 per cent of students had depressive symptoms - five times the global average.
It said the country has made strides to address mental health problems but said: “Our review highlights the overall prevalence of depressive symptoms and depression, which may long have been overlooked."
Prof Samir Al Adawi, of the department of behavioural medicine at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman, who was not involved in the study but is a recognised expert in the Gulf, said how mental health is discussed varies significantly between cultures and nationalities.
“The problem we have in the Gulf is the cross-cultural differences and how people articulate emotional distress," said Prof Al Adawi.
“Someone will say that I have physical complaints rather than emotional complaints. This is the major problem with any discussion around depression."
