Teenage girls are hiring themselves out as hitwomen in Sweden's organised crime wars, keen to prove they are more deadly and ruthless than young men, prosecutors say.

"I had a case involving a 15-year-old girl recruited to shoot someone in the head," Stockholm prosecutor Ida Arnell told AFP.

"She was able to choose the type of mission she wanted, in other words, to aim at the guy's door or his head. She chose the head."

She was arrested with a 17-year-old male accomplice, who pulled the trigger, leaving the victim clinging to life after being shot in the neck, stomach and legs.

Arnell said an increasing number of girls are offering their services to mobsters, including as hitwomen, on encrypted messaging sites.

Girls "have to show that they are even more determined and tougher (than boys) to get the job," the prosecutor added.

Some 280 girls aged between 15 and 17 were charged with murder, manslaughter or other violent crimes last year -- though it is unclear how many were linked to organised crime.

The statistic is far from a blip, say experts, with the role of girls and young women in the violent organised crime networks that are plaguing the Scandinavian nation slipping under the........

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