JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel on Wednesday complained to Sweden over what it called a anti-Semitic "blood libel" by a Stockholm newspaper that claimed Israeli soldiers killed Palestinians in order to sell their organs.

"We protested against this article during a meeting with the Swedish ambassador," said foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor, adding that a formal complaint would be issued. 

Deputy foreign minister Danny Ayalon expressed outrage over what he called anti-Semitic claims. "I demand the Swedish government condemn this groundless article," he said.

Sweden's Aftonbladet newspaper claimed on Monday that Israeli soldiers snatched Palestinian youths and returned their dismembered bodies a few days later.

"This article reeks of racism and recalls blood libels and accusations of ritual killings from the Middle Ages," said Palmor.

"We are dealing with the lowest type of propaganda that doesn't have even one shred of truth in it. It is a blot on the press, and all of Sweden's citizens should vehemently reject this racist outburst that has no place in a democratic society," he said.

Sweden's ambassador to Israel also expressed outrage, saying the article "is as shocking and appalling to us Swedes, as it is to Israeli citizens."

"This embassy cannot but clearly distance itself from it," Elisabet Borsiin Bonnier said in a statement.