STOCKHOLM, April 15, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Swedish police said Tuesday that two men had died in an overnight shooting in the second city of Gothenburg, which media reports said could be linked to gang violence.

Police said they received reports of the shooting shortly before midnight.

"At the scene, two men aged 20-25 were found with gunshot wounds. They were taken to hospital but died of their injuries," a police statement said.

A murder investigation had been opened but police said they had no suspects for the moment.

Newspaper Goteborgs-Posten said the attack could be linked to gang rivalry and a revenge attack for an earlier shooting.

News agency TT reported that since the start of the year, at least three shootings have been reported in Gothenburg and eight bombings.

The Nordic country has struggled in recent years to rein in shootings and bombings linked to score-settling between rival criminal gangs.

Perpetrators are often young teens who are hired as contract killers because they are under 15, the age of criminal responsibility in Sweden.

However, Sweden saw a drop in the number of killings in 2024.

In the country of 10.6 million people, 92 cases of deadly violence were recorded in 2024, 29 fewer than 2023, according to a report by the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Bra) published in late March.

Swedish police also said in January that the number of shootings had declined in 2024 for the second year in a row, with 296 shootings -- a decrease of 20 percent compared with the year before.

Police attributed the decline to an increased ability to "prevent and deter" violent acts.