According to the Swedish Defence University , since the 1970s , a number of residents of Sweden have been implicated in providing logistical and financial support to or joining various foreign-based transnational Islamic militant groups . Among these organizations are Hezbollah , Hamas , the GIA , Al-Qaeda , the Islamic State , Al-Shabaab , Ansar al-Sunna and Ansar al-Islam . In 2010 , the Swedish Security Service estimated that a total of 200 individuals were involved in the Swedish violent Islamist extremist milieu . According to the Swedish Defence University , most of these militants were affiliated with the Islamic State , with around 300 people traveling to Syria and Iraq to join the group and Al-Qaeda associated outfits like Jabhat al-nusra in the 2012-2017 period and some have financed their activities with funds from the Swedish state welfare systems . In 2017 , Swedish Security Service director Anders Thornberg stated that the number of violent Islamic extremists residing in Sweden to number was estimated to be " thousands " . The Danish Security and Intelligence Service judged the number of jihadis in Sweden to be a threat against Denmark since two terrorists arriving from Sweden had already been sentenced in the 2010 Copenhagen terror plot . Security expert Magnus Ranstorp has argued that efforts to improve anti-terror legislation has been hampered by human rights activists such as Ywonne Ruwaida , Mehmet Kaplan and the organisation Charta 2008 . A change in the activism occurred in the 2013/14 time frame due to the number of Swedish citizens travelling to join the Islamic State . He also stated that some of the loudest activists have withdrawn from public debate after being exposed for harassing women in the metoo campaign
2010 Copenhagen terror plot
2010 Copenhagen terror plot
Terrorism in Sweden