Officers in the town of Ostersund said a gang of men “of foreign appearance” have carried out at least six attacks over the last two weeks and pose a serious threat to local women.

The news comes as a father was hospitalised in the Austrian capital Vienna when he was set upon by a Muslim “Sharia patrol” after he’d asked them to stop threatening his wife and daughter for not being “appropriately” dressed.

Migrants walk on a platform at the railway station in Saalfeld, eastern Germany, on September 5, 2015, after their arrival with a special train from Austria. Germany expected up to 7,000 migrants who have been stuck in Hungary to cross into the country via Austria on Saturday, federal police told AFP.

At a press conference, Ostersund police said they had “never seen anything like” the number of sex attacks that have been reported in recent weeks.

All of the reported late night attacks took place outdoors and involved men unknown to their victims, according to MailOnline.

Officers have described the gang as involving at least three men described as “tall, slim, aged 18-25 and speaking Swedish with a foreign accent”.

The attacks come amid heightened tensions over refugees in Sweden , which welcomed nearly 163,000 asylum seekers in 2015 - more than any other European nation per capita.

The country has since imposed strict border checks in the hope of reducing the number of new arrivals.

Meanwhile in Austria, where the mood is equally tense, fears were raised over parts of the capital Vienna effectively becoming no-go areas due to so-called Islamic Sharia patrols.

The anger has been fuelled by reports of gangs of Chechen Muslims roaming the city streets and entering nightclubs to make sure women are dressed appropriately.

In one incident the gang reportedly beat a man who was defending his wife and daughter who were being harassed by the patrols.

The man was reportedly hospitalised as a result of the attack.

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