News In Brief

Sweden winding down its mystery-sub search

After 34 days of fruitless searching for foreign underwater intruders near a key naval base in Karlskrona, Sweden appears to be starting to phase out efforts to capture or destroy the alien divers and their vessels, Monitor contributor Juris Kaza writes. The apparent failure of the hunt is seen as a blow to the reputation of the Swedish Navy.

Ground troops deployed on several islands in Karlskrona Harbor which were believed to have been visited by foreign frogmen were being thinned out and withdrawn. The Swedish military commander in chief, Lennard Ljung, said it was qutie possible the intruders had escaped. He asserted, however, that the naval search was undiminished.

Foreign analysts think Soviet special forces are behind the submarine incidents in Karlskrona, in Sundsvall last summer, and near Stockholm in the fall of 1982.