Borås, 22 October 2025 — Two live hand grenades discovered early Wednesday beside a multi-family block in Hässleholmen were safely neutralized by Sweden’s national bomb squad. Police confirmed the operation was complete at noon.
The discovery was first reported at 07:39 as a single “suspicious object.” Officers quickly established a 100-metre safety cordon and called in the Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit. While technicians examined the first grenade, they located a second nearby. Both were identified as M/56 fragmentation types—Cold War–era weapons that have become a recurring feature of Sweden’s criminal landscape since 2018.
Around 1,100 pupils and 180 staff at the adjacent Bodaskolan and Fjärdingskolan schools were ordered to remain indoors. Residents from roughly 120 apartments in three nearby stairwells were evacuated to Borås Arena, where the municipality set up a temporary shelter. No injuries were reported, and the area reopened at 13:42.
Police Region West has launched a preliminary investigation under the charge of devastation endangering the public—the same statute applied after the 2021 Gothenburg grenade attacks. Forensic teams are examining DNA and fingerprints on the grenade components, while serial numbers have been sent to the Swedish Armed Forces for tracing.
National context
This marks Sweden’s seventh grenade incident of 2025 and the third in Borås since 2022. According to the National Forensic Centre, 88 percent of grenades recovered in the past five years have been M/56 or Spanish Instalaza models—typically smuggled in small shipments through Baltic ports and sold for 10,000–15,000 SEK on encrypted messaging apps.
Municipal response
Borås municipality activated its post-2020 “shelter-in-place” protocol, designed after the Kristianstad school lockdown. Parents received SMS updates every half hour, and psychologists from the Centre for Knowledge & Safety arrived by 10:00.
“Lessons continued in sealed classrooms. Lunch was delayed two hours, but attendance stayed at 97 percent,” said Bodaskolan principal Susanne Karlsson.
What happens next
- Police will maintain a visible presence in the area for the next 48 hours, with drone patrols overnight.
- Technical analysis should be complete within five working days; prosecutors may reclassify the case as attempted murder if forensic links to known suspects emerge.
- The municipal safety board will review camera coverage—currently limited to two public CCTV poles near the scene—and discuss installing acoustic sensors that detect explosions, a system already tested in Malmö.
Public appeal
Police are asking anyone who passed Hässleholmsgatan between 22:00 Tuesday and 07:30 Wednesday to upload dash-cam or phone footage to polisen.se/boras or call +46 10 56 35 270.