Suspect admits killing Anna Lindh

Mijailovic, 25, is a Swede of Yugoslav origin

The man suspected of killing Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh has admitted committing the crime.

Mijailo Mijailovic was arrested following the death of Ms Lindh, who was stabbed in a Stockholm department store last September.

Mr Mijailovic's lawyer, Peter Althin, said his client had confessed to the crime during interrogation.

Ms Lindh was a popular politician in Sweden, who had been seen as a potential prime minister.

Mr Althin said Mr Mijailovic had given him detailed descriptions of the attack on Ms Lindh.

But, he added, Mr Mijailovic had said there was no political motive for the killing and that he had attacked her on impulse.

Murder charges are now expected to be brought against Mr Mijailovic on 12 January, with the court case likely to start one week later.

'Relieved'

Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson said Mr Mijailovic's confession would make it easier for Swedes to come to terms with the killing.

"Like many others, I am greatly relieved by the confession," he said in a statement.

Anna Lindh's murder shocked Sweden

"Clarity about the perpetrator and the facts of the crime plays an important role for many people in their grieving."

The BBC's Lars Bevanger in Oslo says Swedish police had been under enormous pressure to find Ms Lindh's killer.

She was stabbed as she was shopping alone in Stockholm on 10 September last year and died in hospital the following day.

Police detained one suspect a few days later, but he was released without charge.

Medical evidence

Mr Mijailovic, a 25-year-old Swede of Yugoslavian origin, was arrested on 24 September and initially denied the killing.

The police case against him includes information from DNA tests on the murder weapon which were carried out by a forensic laboratory in the UK.

Mr Mijailovic has also been subjected to psychiatric tests by the Swedish National Board of Forensic Medicine.

The killing of Ms Lindh echoed the still-unsolved murder of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme in 1986.

Sweden was shocked by her stabbing, which came in the final days of a campaign in which she had been trying to persuade Swedes to vote in favour of joining the European single currency.

The measure was decisively rejected by 56% to 42%.