A further two are wanted in connection with the killing.

“Police in Stockholm are looking for the men,” said Christer Johansson at Västernorrland police.

Police received an alarm early on Christmas Eve morning that a knife attack had taken place in an apartment in the Fagerdal area of the north Swedish city of Sundsvall. When police arrived at the apartment, used as a centre to house refugees, they found a 35-year-old man stabbed to death and a further man who had sustained knife wounds.

Södermalm police in Stockholm received a tip over the Christmas holiday that the suspects could be in the capital.

“The person said that they knew the people involved in the murder in Sundsvall. He has named three people and said that there could be a further two involved. Stockholm police are now looking after the men and as soon as they are located they will be taken to Sundsvall for interrogation,” said Christer Johansson.

“We don’t know if they are still in Sweden, or if they have managed to leave the country.”

The information is consistent with details given to the police by the man injured in the Sundsvall attack.

“He has told that they were attacked by three or four men who forced their way into the apartment. The man who was injured says that he became scared and ran into a neighbouring apartment from where the police were called.”

The police have had yet established any viable motive for the murder nor have they found the murder weapon.