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STOCKHOLM -- Three people were killed overnight in separate incidents in Sweden as a feud between criminal gangs escalated, making September the deadliest month on record for gun violence in the country.
Two gangs are reportedly fighting over drugs and weapons, and this month has seen a sharp increase in fatal shootings in the northern European country, which has a relatively low crime rate and is considered a very safe place to live.
Late Wednesday, an 18-year-old man was shot dead in a Stockholm suburb. Hours later, one man was killed and another was wounded in a shooting in Jordbro, south of the Swedish capital.
Early Thursday a woman in her 20s died in an explosion in Uppsala, west of Stockholm, that police are treating as murder. Swedish media said the woman who died was likely not the intended victim and that the real target was the house next door.
At least two of the three deaths were linked to a feud between criminal gangs, Swedish media reported.
Two gangs — one led by a Swedish-Turkish dual national who lives in Turkey, the other by his former lieutenant — are reportedly fighting over drugs and weapons.