Deadly shooting at Swedish restuarant

Several people were shot inside a restaurant in the city of Goteborg late Wednesday and at least two of them have died, Swedish police said.

Police said in a statement that an automatic weapon is believed to have been used in the shooting. They had no details on any suspects but said several people had been brought in for questioning.

The shooting happened in the Biskopsgarden suburb of Goteborg, Sweden's second largest city. The neighborhood has a history of gang violence, said police spokeswoman Ulla Brehm.

She said it was too early to speculate on the motive but said there were indications that the shooting was gang-related.

"There is absolutely nothing that indicates terrorism," Brehm said.

"We have had a targeted police operation in this area because we have gang crime here. There has been shootings in the past," Brehm said.

Brehm said at least two people were killed at the scene and several others taken to a hospital.

Police said the shooting happened inside a restaurant called Var Krog och Bar, which means "our tavern and bar" in Swedish. According to its website, the restaurant opened in 1995 and also has a sports bar and a night club that's open on Fridays and Saturdays.

An eyewitness told the tabloid Aftonbladet that two people entered the pub with weapons that looked like Kalashnikovs and started shooting.

Another witness described how fast the shootings occurred.

"I didn't have time to think what was happening. Then I saw that my friend was bleeding. I tried to stop the flow of blood as well as I could with my hands," a man who gave his name as "Rocky" told public broadcaster SVT.

On Jan. 30 a man was wounded in a shooting on the square outside the restaurant. It wasn't immediately clear whether the shootings were linked.

Gun violence is not uncommon in Sweden's major cities, though shootings in public places with multiple victims are rare.

"The problems are the same here in Sweden as internationally," Brehm said.

Wire services