Police were called out early on Friday morning after loud bangs were heard near the Jewish community center in Malmö, southern Sweden.

“There as been an explosion. Something has detonated – we are certain of that,” said police officer Erik Liljenström to local paper Sydsvenskan early on Friday morning.

The police received a call shortly after 1am. Witnesses said they had heard loud blasts near the center some 15 minutes earlier.

When police arrived at the scene they soon established that there had been some sort of explosion and that someone had tried to smash in the door. There were loose paving stones lying among shards of shattered glass in front of the entrance, according to the paper.

While damage had been done to the front door, the building had not been damaged in any other way as far as the police could see, but according to witness statements the blasts were heard a few blocks away.

Shortly after 4am, police announced that they had identified one of the vehicles and brought two men in for questioning. Both of the suspects are 18-year-old, according to Malmö police, who nevertheless believe that more people were involved in carrying out the attack.

No one was reportedly injured in the attack. According to the police, the men are under suspicion of destruction constituting a public danger.

On Friday, Malmö's Social Democrat mayor Ilmar Reepalu, who has previously been criticized for making controversial statements about the city's Jewish community, condemned the attacks.

Earlier this year, Reepalu came under fire for comments in which he claimed that the far right Sweden Democrats had "infiltrated" the Jewish community in Malmö.

The comments were followed by a visit to Malmö from US President Barack Obama's Special Envoy to Monitor & Combat anti-Semitism, Hannah Rosenthal, who said there is "no excuse" for using anti-Semitic language.

In 2009, comments by Reepalu prompted the Simon Wiesenthal Center in the United States warned Jews from traveling to Sweden's third largest city.

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