A routine return from summer holidays turned into a scene of panic in central Sweden on Thursday after a sword-wielding attacker forced their way into a high school, leaving at least two teenagers seriously wounded, authorities said.
Regional healthcare director Jonas Cederberg told AFP that two “seriously wounded” people had been admitted to hospital.
He added that a third person, whose injuries had not yet been confirmed, was being taken to hospital.
The healthcare authority said on its website that the two seriously wounded were boys aged between 12 and 17. One was undergoing emergency surgery, though both were reported to be in stable condition.
“An assailant armed with a sword has entered Brinellskolan and wounded several people,” the Fagersta municipality said in a statement, adding that police had detained the attacker.
Police said they received the first reports of the assault shortly after 2pm local time (1pm Irish time).
More than three hours later, students were still locked down inside the school, according to a reporter at the scene for public broadcaster SVT.
The local authority later said the lockdown had been lifted.
Officials did not say how many people were injured, but said police continued searching the school. Several other schools in the area were also placed in lockdown, the municipality added.
The local authority postponed a news conference that had been scheduled for 5pm, saying “a rescue operation” was still under way.
No immediate motive was given.
Aftonbladet reported that police shot the attacker in the leg.
The newspaper also cited unidentified sources saying the suspect was an 18-year-old former student at the school.
Footage broadcast by SVT showed multiple ambulances and police vehicles outside Brinellskolan, along with a police helicopter overhead.
The school has about 450 students and is located in a town of roughly 12,000 residents.
In May, the municipality said students at Brinellskolan were sent home after a threat was made against the school.
Police officers and rescue services at the scene of the attack
‘Serious incident’
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said in a written statement that “a serious incident has taken place today at a school in Fagersta, just after the summer holidays.”
“There are reports of people being injured. We do not yet know what lies behind the attack, but we do know that the police are working extremely intensively,” Kristersson said.
Magdalena Andersson, leader of the opposition Social Democrats, described the reports from Fagersta as “terrible news” in a post on X.
“My thoughts are with those affected and everyone involved,” she said.
“When violence takes place at a school, I know it impacts everyone in our country. All of Sweden stands with Fagersta in this difficult time.”
Sweden has in recent years been shaken by several high-profile attacks at educational institutions.
In February 2025, a 35-year-old man killed 10 people at an adult education centre in Orebro in what was Sweden’s worst mass shooting.
Police said the attack was motivated by the killer’s desire to take his own life amid financial and psychological difficulties.
In March 2022, an 18-year-old student stabbed two teachers to death at a secondary school in the southern city of Malmo.
And in October 2015, three people died in a racially motivated attack at a school in the western town of Trollhattan, carried out by a sword-wielding assailant who was later killed by police.
