A mutilated horse has been found dead in Sweden with injuries police said Wednesday they believe were inflicted by people in the country's first such fatality after a mysterious wave of horse attacks in France.

A month ago, a horse was attacked in the same area near the southern Swedish town of Jonkoping, but survived.

This time the animal was found dead on a horse farm "with several injuries that we think were inflicted by people," local police official Thomas Agnevik told AFP.

According to Swedish media, an eye and an ear had been cut off.

An investigation has been opened into cruelty to animals, police said. 

These cases are the first ones reported in Sweden since a grisly wave of attacks in France.

French authorities have been at a loss to explain the attacks, in which more than 150 horses have had ears sliced off, genitals cut and skin lacerated.

But several people are thought to have been involved, amid speculation they could be motivated by a satanic rite or an internet cult.