Reinforcements of specially trained police are being sent to Stockholm after five nights of unprecedented rioting in the capital's suburbs. Police officers are being sent from the cities of Gothenburg and Malmo, both of which saw rioting in recent years, a spokesman told BBC News.

"They are trained and educated for the police tasks going on in Stockholm," Kjell Lindgren said. Several schools and scores of cars have been burnt in Stockholm this week. The nightly riots began on Sunday in the north-western suburb of Husby, a deprived, largely immigrant area. It is believed they were sparked by the death of a man nearly a week before, who was shot by police after he allegedly threatened to kill them with a machete.

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Image: Firemen extinguish a burning car in the suburb of Rinkeby after youths rioted in several different suburbs around Stockholm May 23, 2013 Photograph: Reuters