Two police officers and a person with police protection died when their car collided with a truck on the E4 in Markaryd in Sweden. It reports Swedish police in one press release.
The deceased is the artist Lars Vilks. This is confirmed by his cohabitant in Swedish Today’s News.
The relatives have been notified.
It is with horror and great sorrow that I have received the message that our two colleagues and the person they protected have died this afternoon. My thoughts go to the relatives, family, friends and colleagues, says National Police Chief Anders Thornberg in the press release.
Olle Palm (82) died in the plane crash
Karikaturtegner
Among other things, Vilks is known for drawing the Islamic prophet Muhammad as a dog, which made him subject to attempted murder and received police protection, according to NRK.
In 2015, he was subjected to a terrorist attack in Copenhagen, when he participated in a debate meeting on freedom of expression. Vilks was unharmed from the attack, while documentary filmmaker Finn Nørgaard was shot and killed, and three police officers were injured.
He has long lived with threats and as a result lived under personal protection, according to Swedes Expressen.
Races for new details
Unclear how the accident happened
– This is an extremely tragic event. Now it is important for all of us that we do everything we can to find out what happened on the spot and what caused the collision, while we take care of our employees, writes Stefan Sintéus, head of the regional investigation unit responsible for personal protection in the police region South, on the police website, according to the same newspaper.
The police tell SVT that they are unsure of how the accident happened. Pictures from the accident site should show that it burned heavily. The road was closed for several hours afterwards.
The driver of the truck has been questioned in hospital and is being treated there. He is said to have been seriously injured in the accident, according to SVT.
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