AN IKEA bloodbath in Sweden has thrown the progressive country into violent chaos as the refugee crisis takes its toll.

Last month, a devastated asylum-seeker who had been refused refuge responded with an alleged double-murder at the iconic furniture store, sending shockwaves around the nation.

Abraham Ukbagabir was told he would have to seek asylum in Italy because he had been “the subject of some altercation” there, according to a police report seen by The Washington Post.

A fellow Eritrean staying at the same shelter near Vasteras, 100 kilometres west of Stockholm, had just been granted permission to stay, and Ukbagabir was consumed with envy.

The furious 35-year-old invited his more successful compatriot, Yohannes Mahari, to accompany him to Ikea to buy a mobile phone. He led the younger man to the kitchenware department and began picking up pots and then butcher knives, slipping off the packaging on the blades.

Before a nervous Mahari could figure out what was going on, the older man had stabbed a Swedish mother and son and plunged the knife into his own stomach.

While shocking, the “mad” attack six weeks ago has had more alarming consequences than anyone could have predicted. It was followed by a wave of misinformation about the Eritreans’ non-existent terrorist links, igniting bubbling tensions over the escalating refugee crisis and extreme expressions of nationalism that jar with Sweden’s multicultural reputation.

The fatal attack on Carola Herlin, 55, and her son Emil, 28, on August 10 has become “the most scandalous in recent Swedish history,” according to The Washington Post.

Mahari was at first detained along with Ukbagabir, after he ran from the scene. Bloggers quickly started spreading rumours that the two men had shouted “Allahu Akbar” (“God is great”) and beheaded their white victims in the famous furniture emporium.

Bjorn Soder, a politician from the increasingly popular far-right party Sweden Democrats, blamed the pro-immigration policies that have seen the nation take in more refugees than any European country except Germany (75,000 in the first six months of this year).

“It may be time to recall how [Frederik] Reinfeldt wanted us to ‘open our hearts’ and how he thanked ‘for choosing Sweden,’” he wrote on Facebook. “Don’t think the murdered mother and son at Ikea in Vasteras would agree with ex-prime minister ... Time to wake up, Swedish people.”

Stockholm University criminology professor Jerzy Sarnecki told Radio Sweden police were forced to reveal more information than they normally would in an effort to stem disturbing “racist rumours”.

Mahari was released three days after his arrest, when Ukbagabir woke up in hospital and confessed, but his lawyer, Maria Wilhelmsson, told the radio station the 23-year-old had received several threats and police had set up a protection detail for him.

Police chief Per Agren told the BBC officials feared a backlash from “dark forces” that wanted to exploit the case. Just days after the attack, demonstrators threw eggs at the Swedish refugee shelter where the men had been staying, and two bags of flammable material were discovered nearby, leading to 83 being evacuated, local media reported.

There are around 18,000 Eritreans in Sweden, a number expected to rise significantly in the coming years since they are now the largest group seeking refugee status after Syrians, according to The Local.

Malmo, Sweden’s gateway to Europe, is plagued by extreme violence, with dozens of grenades launched there this year, and one explosion taking place just hours before the Ikea attack. Bomb disposal troops redeployed to the city from the Middle East have said it feels frighteningly similar.

The country is now desperately trying to share the burden around its municipalities, but the backlash has already begun. The Ikea attack is seen by many as the symbolic expression of an assault on Sweden’s national identity.

It’s a violent example of the chaos engulfing Europe and the world, as the refugee emergency reaches boiling point.