Danish PM vows to tighten Swedish border controls after bomb blasts

Image source, EPA

Image caption, Mette Frederiksen was elected as prime minister in June 2019

The Danish prime minister has pledged to tighten controls at the Swedish border after two bomb blasts in Copenhagen this week.

Two Swedish men have been charged over the attacks.

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said she wanted to protect Denmark in a "better and smarter way".

"We cannot have a situation where you can travel from Sweden to Denmark and place dynamite in the middle of our capital," she said.

"The target is the criminals - it's not the many commuters or people who travel across the country," Ms Frederiksen added.

Two explosions hit Copenhagen last week, one at a police station on Saturday and one outside the national tax agency three days earlier.

One person was injured.

One of the suspects, who is aged 22, was arrested in the Swedish city of Malm枚, just over the border from Denmark.

Image source, AFP

Image caption, Forensics working at the police station that was hit by an explosion

An international arrest warrant has been issued for the other man, a 23-year-old.

Ms Frederiksen, who was elected in June, said it was clear that the incident was linked to Sweden but acknowledged that Denmark also has "problems at home".

"In this government, we want the police to have the tools they need," she said.

Sweden and Denmark are connected by the Oresund Bridge over a 16 km (10 mile) strait.

Both countries are in the European Union and the Schengen passport-free travel area.

In response to the European migrant crisis in 2016, Sweden clamped down on border controls by imposing ID checks.

Denmark introduced similar regulations at the German border but not the Swedish side.