STOCKHOLM: Israel’s embassy in Stockholm was the target of an attempted attack, the ambassador said Wednesday, after a bomb squad destroyed what Swedish police called “a dangerous object.”
Police said the “live” device had been found by staff inside the premises of the Israeli embassy in the Swedish capital, without specifying what the object was.
“We were alerted at 1:08 p.m. (1208 GMT) by the embassy that they had found an object they believed to be dangerous,” Daniel Wikdahl with the Stockholm police told AFP.
An area around the object was closed off and Wikdahl added that the national bomb squad had been called to scene and had decided to destroy the object.
“The object has been destroyed by the national bomb squad, and our assessment is that it was live,” the police officer said.
Police have opened an investigation, but Wikdahl declined to specify what the object was, citing the ongoing enquiries.
“Today we were subject to an attempted attack against the Embassy of Israel in Stockholm and its employees,” Israeli ambassador to Sweden Ziv Nevo Kulman said in a post to X.
“We will not be intimidated by terror,” Kulman added.
Sweden’s government in late October pledged 10 million kronor ($1 million) in to increase security at Jewish institutions and congregations, as a result of increased anti-semitism in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war.
In early December, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson took part in a march against anti-semitism in Stockholm.
Swedish police said at the time, they had received 120 reports of ant-semitic crimes since the outbreak of the war.
Following the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, which resulted in the deaths of around 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures, its military launched a withering air, land and sea offensive.
It has killed at least 26,900 people in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to the territory’s health ministry.
Attack foiled at Israel’s Sweden embassy: ambassador
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Attack foiled at Israel’s Sweden embassy: ambassador
- Police said the “live” device had been found by staff inside the premises of the Israeli embassy in the Swedish capital
- Sweden’s government in late October pledged 10 million kronor ($1 million) in to increase security at Jewish institutions and congregations
Bangladesh sends record 750,000 workers to Saudi Arabia in 2025
- Latest data shows 16% surge of Bangladeshis going to the Kingdom compared to 2024
- Bangladesh authorities are working on sending more skilled workers to Saudi Arabia
DHAKA: Bangladesh sent over 750,000 workers to Saudi Arabia in 2025, marking the highest overseas deployment to a single country on record, its labor bureau said on Friday.
Around 3.5 million Bangladeshis live and work in Saudi Arabia, sending home more than $5 billion every year. They have been joining the Saudi labor market since the 1970s and are the largest expatriate group in the Kingdom.
Last year, Saudi Arabia retained its spot as the top destination for Bangladeshi workers, with more than two-thirds of over 1.1 million who went abroad in 2025 choosing the Kingdom.
“More than 750,000 Bangladeshi migrants went to Saudi Arabia last year,” Ashraf Hossain, additional director-general at the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training, told Arab News.
“So far, it’s the highest number for Bangladesh, in terms of sending migrants to Saudi Arabia or any other particular country in a single year.”
The latest data also showed a 16 percent increase from 2024, when about 628,000 went to the Kingdom for work, adding to the largest diaspora community outside Bangladesh.
Authorities have focused on sending more skilled workers to Saudi Arabia in recent years, after the Kingdom launched in 2023 its Skill Verification Program in Bangladesh, which aims to advance the professional competence of employees in the Saudi labor market.
Bangladesh has also increased the number of certification centers, allowing more candidates to be verified by Saudi authorities.
“Our focus is now on increasing safe, skilled and regular migration. Skilled manpower export to Saudi Arabia has increased in the last year … more than one-third of the migrants who went to Saudi Arabia did so under the Skill Verification Program by the Saudi agency Takamol,” Hossain said.
“Just three to four months ago, we had only been to certify 1,000 skilled workers per month. But now, we can conduct tests with 28 (Saudi-approved) centers across the country, which can certify around 60,000 skilled workforces (monthly) for the Kingdom’s labor market.”
On Thursday, the BMET began to provide training in mining, as Bangladesh aims to also start sending skilled workers for the sector in Saudi Arabia.
“There are huge demands for skilled mining workers in Saudi Arabia as it’s an oil-rich country,” Hossain said.
“We are … trying to produce truly skilled workers for the Saudi labor market.”
In October, Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh signed a new employment agreement, which enhances worker protection, wage payments, as well as welfare and health services.
It also opens more opportunities in construction and major Vision 2030 projects, which may create up to 300,000 new jobs for Bangladeshi workers in 2026.
