Lindh suspect DNA tested

The man was seized as he watched football on TV at this restaurant

Swedish police know the results of DNA tests that should show whether a man held for the killing of Foreign Minister Anna Lindh wore a baseball cap found near the crime scene.

However, they have decided not to make the information public.

The man was detained at a restaurant outside Stockholm on Tuesday, six days after Lindh was fatally stabbed in an upmarket department store.

His DNA has now been analysed and can be compared with a sample from the blue baseball cap.

During questioning on Wednesday the 35-year-old denied any responsibility.

'Mentally unstable'

Police stressed on Thursday that he was only one of a number of suspects.

"Unfortunately the public seems to have got the idea that the arrested man is the murderer, which has resulted in the flow of tips almost stopping," said police spokesman Lars Groenskog.

Anna Lindh: Life in pictures Press portrait of suspect

The BBC's Lars Bevanger says Thursday's test results could link the suspect to the baseball cap but not directly to the murder.

DNA analysis of the knife used to stab Lindh in the stomach, chest and arm on Wednesday 10 September, may take several weeks.

Swedish newspapers say the suspect is mentally unstable and has links to neo-Nazis.

He is also reported to resemble a man photographed by the store's security cameras, who police said they were very anxious to trace.

Police reportedly received a flood of tip-offs - including some from the man's relatives - after the photograph was published at the weekend.

Suicide watch

They are under huge pressure to find the killer - all the more so because of their failure to solve the murder of Prime Minister Olof Palme in 1986.

MOURNERS Romano Prodi, President of the European Commission Joschka Fischer, German Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, French Foreign Minister Jack Straw, UK Foreign Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Danish Prime Minister Greek Foreign Minister Georgios Papandreou

Prosecutors have until noon (1000 GMT) on Friday to file a request for further detention.

A city court must rule on the prosecutor's request by Saturday at the latest.

Media reports say the 35-year-old suspect has not been able to present police with an alibi.

They say he openly displayed Nazi sympathies as a teenager, and has a criminal record that includes attacking people with a spade and a bottle, and issuing death threats to police.

He is reported to be on 24-hour suicide watch at police headquarters in Stockholm.

Some newspapers have given his name as Per Olof Svensson.

Memorial security

An official memorial service for Lindh will be held on Friday attended by 1,300 guests including a host of European leaders.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell had been due to attend, but has been forced to cancel because of the extreme weather in the US.

Armed police will seal off part of Stockholm, and private flights over the city centre will be banned.

The service will be carried live on TV in Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway.

Lindh will be buried in a very private ceremony on Saturday.

A programme to be aired on Swedish television on Thursday includes an interview with a friend who accompanied Lindh on the shopping trip, when she was attacked.

She said Lindh was "nervous and giggly" as she rushed to buy clothes to wear for a live TV debate on Sweden's euro referendum.

Lindh was one of the leaders of the pro-euro campaign, which suffered a heavy defeat in the vote on Sunday.