15-year-old boy held after fatal knife attack at refugee centre in Sweden

A 15-year-old asylum seeker has allegedly stabbed to death a young female worker at the youth asylum centre in Sweden where he was living.

The teenager has been arrested on suspicion of the fatal incident at the residential centre for youths aged 14-17 in Molndal, near the western city Gothenburg.

His victim was named as Alexandra Mezher, aged 22, by family members who praised her as an "angel" last night in comments to the Swedish newspaper Expressen.

"It is so terrible,” said one cousin of Ms Mezher, whose family were originally from Lebanon.

The Swedish prime minister Stefan Lofven paid tribute to Ms Mezher as a "fantastic employee" and described her death as "a tragedy".

The attack came as the National Police Commissioner Dan Eliasson requested 4,100 additional officers and support staff to help fight against terrorism, carry out migrant deportations and police asylum facilities, according to reports from AFP News agency.

He reportedly said that officers were responding to "many disturbances in asylum reception centres" as the country deals with a record influx of migrants and asylum seekers.

Sweden last year took more than 160,000 asylum seekers, among the highest figures per capita within Europe.

It has since tightened its rules on asylum to reduce the number entering the country.