Footage may link gang leader to Linköping bombing

Surveillance footage shows the suspected attacker placing a bomb made from a saucepan before it exploded in a Linköping apartment building in September 2023, SVT reports. The trial of Ildar “Scar” Galiyev, who is accused of orchestrating the bombing, began this week.

The blast struck a multi-family building on Järdalavägen in the Ekholmen district early in the morning, causing extensive damage and destroying large parts of the stairwell. A woman in her 20s was taken to hospital with minor injuries. Relatives of a woman connected to a leader in the Foxtrot network lived at the address.

Four people were convicted of involvement in the bombing in 2024, including two who received life sentences. Galiyev is now charged with more than 20 offences in Stockholm, Uppsala and Linköping.

Prosecutors identify Galiyev as a senior figure in the Dalen network, which has been involved in a violent conflict with Foxtrot. He was extradited from Greece to Sweden in February 2026. The trial also covers alleged murders and bombings from 2023 and 2024, and is expected to continue until March.

Galiyev is charged with two murders: the killing of an 18-year-old near Mälarhöjden IP in Stockholm in September 2023, and the killing of a man in his 40s on Södermalm in May 2024. He is also accused of instigating two murders in September 2023: a bomb attack in Fullerö hage outside Uppsala that killed 24-year-old Soha Saad, and the fatal shooting of a man in his 40s in Vällingby, Stockholm.

The other charges include attempted murder, offences under laws governing flammable and explosive goods, and causing public danger through destruction. They relate to alleged acts both as an instigator and as a perpetrator, including a bombing at a row of houses in Hässelby, Stockholm, in March 2023 and the Ekholmen explosion. Galiyev is also charged with preparing to commit murder in Stockholm in 2023, and instigating a kidnapping and aggravated assault in Stockholm in 2024.

When the charges were filed, Chief Prosecutor Mats Ihlbom described the case as a vast indictment involving a large number of serious allegations. He said many people had been affected by the alleged crimes.