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World / Europe

Iceland, world's safest country, in shock over rare murder

Published: 25 Jan 2017 - 05:13 pm | Last Updated: 07 Nov 2021 - 12:25 pm
Birna Brjansdottir

Birna Brjansdottir

AP

LONDON: Iceland, ranked the world's most peaceful country, is reeling after police said a young woman whose body was found on a beach was murdered.

Gunnar Runar Sveinejornsson, spokesman for the Reykjavik Metropolitan Police, said Birna Brjansdottir, 20, went missing on Jan. 14 after a night out with friends.

He says her body was found near the capital after a week-long search. Her shoes were found earlier at a nearby town called Hafnarfjordur.

Two men from Greenland aged in their 20s are in police custody after being airlifted by police helicopter from a fishing trawler, Sveinejornsson says. No charges have been laid.

Murders are rare in Iceland, with a population of 331,000. The country tops the Institute for Economics and Peace's global peace index.

"The nation is shocked," Sveinejornsson said Wednesday.