Police in the heavily-migrant populated Swedish city of Malmö backtracked after warning young women not to go out alone at night in no-go zones after a brutal rape in which some claim a 17-year-old girl had her abdomen set on fire.

“These predators focus on single women who go out by themselves. You should not go out alone in such areas, but if you want to be out you can go in twos or in a group,” Malmö police officer Anders Nilsson warned young girls and women.

The remarks were later clarified by Deputy Police Area Manager of the Malmö Police Mats Karlsson who said the comments were “unfortunate and unclear” and said the police did not endorse women staying away from particular areas.

“My advice is to behave as usual and not act on his fear,” Karlsson said.

Scared Sweden: Almost Half Of Women ‘Afraid’ To Be Out After Dark In Europe’s Rape Capital https://t.co/eRWe7cjhjY pic.twitter.com/31Jjxx1qzO — Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) March 4, 2016

The initial comments were made in reaction to the rape case which was described by Mr. Nilsson as a “horrendous crime”.

“We have been policemen for a long time, several of us, I have been working for 35 years, and we have not seen such a thing before. They’ve really crossed the line,” police commander Mats Attin said.

Rumours have circulated regarding details of the case, with noted Swedish economist Tino Sanandaji claiming on Facebook that contacts had told him details of the rape.

“A credible source that contacted me suggesting that the perpetrators have poured lighting fluid on the girl’s abdomen and lit it after the rape,” Sanandaji wrote.

Mats Karlsson contradicted the accounts of the other officers and Sanandaji claiming that the 17-year-old injuries were “minor”.

Police have been tight-lipped about the case and claim that they are still pursuing the investigation and have yet to make any arrests, but noted they have no reason to believe the case is linked to two previous rape incidents.

Lawyer of migrant who filmed Facebook livestream rape in Sweden claims client "did Not understand" it was rape https://t.co/uVj3UplyJe — Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) August 12, 2017

Rape cases in Sweden have dramatically increased in recent years, despite Swedish Integration Minister Ylva Johansson falsely claiming they were on the decline in an interview with the BBC earlier this year.

Some, like lawyer Elisabeth Fritz, claiming that the majority of suspects involved in rape cases come from migrant backgrounds.

The official Swedish crime statistics do not mention the ethnic or religious backgrounds of suspects.

When the Moderate Party attempted to ask for ethnic background statistics from the government last month, they were rejected by Justice Minister Morgan Johansson who said: “The common denominator of those who commit these crimes is that they are men.”