The Linköping attack was a racist assault carried out by three youths in the Swedish city of Linköping on February 22, 1995. The account places it alongside a recent history of racist violence in Sweden, while noting a connection between one participant and the Black Metal band Nefandus; it does not establish that the band or the wider scene directed the attack.

The Attack

Three youths, aged between 16 and 18, went after a Black man carrying an axe and two machetes. The account describes them as terrorizing him, without providing further details of the assault. Its brief description leaves the victim unnamed and focuses instead on the attackers, their weapons, and the links between this incident and other acts attributed to members of the group.

Links to Other Offenses

Two of the youths had also tried to set fire to a church a few weeks earlier. That attempt failed, and police caught them. The account thus connects the Linköping attack with an earlier episode of attempted arson, but does not give a specific motive for either crime or say that the arson attempt caused the assault.

One participant, identified by the name Belfagor, was involved in both crimes and belonged to Nefandus, a Black Metal band. This connection places a band member within the account of the attack, but does not establish that the other youths belonged to the Black Metal scene or that the band had any organizational role.

Wider Context and Significance

The account presents the attack as part of a broader Swedish context of racist violence, not as an unprecedented incident. A few years earlier, the so-called Laserman had carried out a campaign involving at least ten murders or serious woundings of male immigrants and non-white citizens. The comparison situates the Linköping assault within an existing pattern of attacks on racialized people, without claiming a direct connection between the attackers and that earlier campaign.

The incident’s reported links to failed church arson and to a member of Nefandus bring together racist violence and Black Metal-associated activity in one case. Those links are specific to the individuals described: they do not support treating the attack as representative of the band, the music scene, or a shared motive among all three youths.