Stockholm, 26 July 2023 (dpa/MIA) - Recent Koran burnings in Sweden have created an increased security risk in the country, Sweden's domestic intelligence service Säkerhetspolisen warned on Wednesday.

"In our assessment, this course of events has worsened the security situation," the agency said in a statement.

Islamophobic actions carried out by small groups in Sweden and Denmark, in which Koran editions were burned, have recently led to angry protests in several Muslim countries.

Reactions were particularly strong in Iraq, whose government expelled the Swedish ambassador. Earlier, demonstrators in Baghdad broke into the Swedish embassy and set fire to it.

On Monday, the Swedish radio station SVT reported that a Koran burning announced for Saturday had been cancelled by the person responsible. However, further actions were planned.

According to the secret service, Sweden's reputation suffered as a result of the actions in connection with disinformation campaigns that had already been going on for some time.

Instead of being a tolerant country, Sweden is now seen as hostile to Islam and Muslims, the statement said. This includes the perception that attacks on Muslims in Sweden are tolerated and Muslim children are "kidnapped" by social services, it said.

"As a whole, this may increase the threat posed by individuals in the violent Islamist environment.

According to the report, Swedish security services regularly deal with threatened attacks against Swedish citizens and Swedish interests abroad.

The terror alert level however remains at level three out of a possible five, but would be reviewed on an ongoing basis, the agency said.