British boy dies in grenade attack on Swedish apartment

An eight-year-old British boy has been killed in a grenade attack on a block of flats in the Swedish city of Gothenburg.

Yuusuf Warsame from Birmingham was visiting family on holiday when the attack took place in the early hours of this morning. He suffered severe injuries from the blast and later died in hospital.

"The room Yuusuf was in when the attack happened, was also occupied by our mother, sister and youngest brother," a family member told the Birmingham Mail.

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"It is a miracle none of them were badly injured, they only sustained minor injuries."

The motive for the explosion remains unclear, but according to local media police are investigating it as a possible revenge attack.

"Police have confirmed that one of the men convicted over a fatal shooting at a restaurant in the area last year was registered at the address," the Swedish Local reports.

Gothenburg police spokesman Thomas Fuxborg described the attack as "despicable and abhorrent" and said it was being treated as a murder investigation.

"Someone was standing outside the apartment and threw a hand grenade through the window, into the living room," he said. "From the outside it is impossible to know who is in the apartment."

Sweden generally has low crime rates but police "have had difficulty addressing violence in poorer neighbourhoods" in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmo, the BBC reports. "Over the course of the summer, cars have been set alight on an almost nightly basis in some neighbourhoods."