US President Donald Trump has tweeted that he was referring to a Fox News report when he appeared to refer to Sweden as the site of a terror incident - the latest of several instances where his administration appeared to reference non-existent attacks.
Earlier, the White House said Donald Trump was not referring to a specific incident when he made remarks about a terror incident in Sweden on Saturday, and that the president may also have seen a Fox report on crime in Sweden.
Fox News, a US channel that has been cited favorably by Trump, ran a report Friday about alleged migrant-related crime problems in the country.
A White House spokeswoman told reporters on Sunday that Trump had been referring generally to rising crime, not a specific incident in the Scandinavian country.
Sweden's crime rate has fallen since 2005, official statistics show, even as it has taken in hundreds of thousands of immigrants from war-torn countries like Syria and Iraq.
Trump's comment confounded Stockholm. "We are trying to get clarity," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Catarina Axelsson said.
Sweden's embassy in the United States repeated Trump's tweet about having seen the Fox report, and added, "We look forward to informing the US administration about Swedish immigration and integration policies."
President Trump was addressing a campaign-style rally in Florida when he launched into a list of places that have been targeted by terrorists.
"You look at what's happening in Germany, you look at what's happening last night in Sweden. Sweden, who would believe this? Sweden. They took in large numbers. They're having problems like they never thought possible," he said, provoking mockery on social media.
Trump's speech was aimed at defending his order last month that blocked refugees and travelers from seven majority-Muslim countries from entering the United States.
The order has been suspended by a federal appeals court, and Trump vowed to introduce a new order this week as a means of protecting Americans at home.
He went on to name Brussels, Nice and Paris - European cities that have been struck by deadly terror attacks.
Sweden's embassy in Washington asked for an explanation, the foreign ministry in Stockholm said Sunday.
For Donald Trump’s supporters, the social media and reporting frenzy is yet more evidence of what they see as pervasive media bias against President Trump.
“We all make mistakes or misspeak on some facts,” said Michelle Mesi from Texas.
“But let's face it, those misspeaks don't change the fact that terror is a reality and we are owed due diligence to keep America safe.” she said.
Massachusetts Trump voter Joe Hession said the media has been obsessed over the "smallest dumb stuff."
“They will nit-pick anything he does or says,” Mr Hession said.
Users on Twitter, Trump's favorite communication platform, cracked jokes about the apparent miscue using the hashtags #lastnightinSweden and #SwedenIncident.
Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom appeared to respond to Trump on Saturday by posting on Twitter an excerpt of a speech in which she said democracy and diplomacy "require us to respect science, facts and the media."
Her predecessor was less circumspect.
Former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt asked: "Sweden? Terror attack? What has he been smoking? Questions abound."
Gunnar Hokmark, a Swedish member of the European Parliament, retweeted a post that said "#lastnightinSweden my son dropped his hotdog in the campfire. So sad!"
Hokmark added his own comment: "How could he know?"
Numerous internet wags responded with Ikea-themed tweets. Some posted photos of the impossible-to-understand instructions for assembling Ikea furniture, calling it "Secret Plans for the #SwedenIncident."
'Nothing has happened'
Posts flooded into @sweden, the country's official Twitter account which is run by a different Swede each week.
This week's curator, Emma, who describes herself as a school librarian and mother, said the account had received 800 mentions in four hours.
"No. Nothing has happened here in Sweden. There has not (been) any terrorist attacks here. At all. The main news right now is about Melfest," she said, referring to the competition to pick the performer who will represent Sweden at the Eurovision singing contest.
Top Trump aides in his month-old administration have faced criticism and ridicule after speaking publicly about massacres that never took place.
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway -- who famously coined the term "alternative facts" -- referred to a "Bowling Green massacre" during an interview.
She later tweeted that she meant to say "Bowling Green terrorists" -- referring to two Iraqi men who were indicted in 2011 for trying to send money and weapons to Al-Qaeda, and using improvised explosive devices against US soldiers in Iraq.
And White House spokesman Sean Spicer made three separate references in one week to an attack in Atlanta.
He later said he meant to say Orlando, the Florida city where an American of Afghan origin gunned down 49 people at a gay nightclub last year.
