Swedish university briefly closed after anonymous threat

Sweden's second largest university said it would reopen on Tuesday after earlier cancelling all classes over an anonymous threat on social media that raised fears of a mass shooting.

 The threat first emerged on Sunday evening, prompting Lund University, in southwest Sweden, to keep its campuses closed to staff and students on Monday as a precaution.

 But after a meeting on Monday afternoon, university officials announced that classes would resume the following day in light of "new information" from police.

 "Investigations have revealed that the threat directed at Lund University posted on the Jodel app was not a unique occurrence, but has occurred in several places in Sweden. In view of this, the decision to close the university has been reversed," it said on its website.

 "Activities are expected to be running as usual from Tuesday morning."

 Jodel is an application for mobile phones that allows students to communicate anonymously to others in the same university.

 According to Swedish media, a Jodel user issued the following message on Sunday: "Do not go to the university tomorrow if you are in Lund. Look at the news tomorrow morning."

 The text drew parallels with a message released on the Internet forum 4chan before the October 1 shootings at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg in the US state of Oregon, when a 26-year-old man killed nine people before committing suicide, the media said.

 Investigators have not however confirmed that the author of the message and the killer were the same person.

 The rector of Lund University, Torbjoern von Schantz, earlier said he had felt no hesitation about cancelling all classes.

 "Security must come before everything else," he told TT news agency.

 Police in Lund said they were looking for whoever was behind the threat.

 "Police have gathered some technical information which will be examined," they said in a statement.