Terrorist link to man shot in cartoonist raid
Source: Agencies |
January 3, 2010, Sunday
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Terrorist link to man shot in cartoonist raid
Police shot a Somali man wielding an ax and a knife as he tried to break into the home of an artist whose cartoon of Prophet Muhammad with a bomb-shaped turban outraged the Muslim world, the head of Denmark's intelligence agency said yesterday.
Jakob Scharf said a 28-year-old man with ties to al-Qaida tried to enter Kurt Westergaard's home in Denmark's second largest city, Aarhus, on Friday night. But Westergaard pressed an alarm and police arrived minutes later.
The attack on the artist, whose rendering was among 12 that led to the torching of Danish diplomatic offices in predominantly Muslim countries in 2006, was "terror related," Scharf said.
He said the man would be charged with attempted murder.
Westergaard, 74, whose five-year-old granddaughter was in the home on a sleep-over, sought shelter in a specially made safe room when the suspect broke a window in the home, said police spokesman Preben Nielsen.
Officers arrived two minutes later and tried to arrest the assailant, who wielded an ax at a police officer. The officer then shot the man in a knee and a hand, authorities said.
The suspect's name was not released in line with Danish privacy rules.
"The arrested man has, according to PET's information, close relations to the Somali terrorist group al-Shabab and al-Qaida leaders in eastern Africa," Scharf said. PET is Denmark's intelligence agency.
Scharf said without elaborating that the man is suspected of having been involved in terror-related activities in east Africa. He had been under PET's surveillance but not in connection with Westergaard, he said.
The man, who had a permit to stay in Denmark, was to be charged yesterday with attempted murder for trying to kill Westergaard and the police officer, Scharf said.
Westergaard told his employer, the Jyllands-Posten daily, that the assailant shouted "revenge" and "blood" as he tried to enter the bathroom where he and the child had sought shelter.
Police shot a Somali man wielding an ax and a knife as he tried to break into the home of an artist whose cartoon of Prophet Muhammad with a bomb-shaped turban outraged the Muslim world, the head of Denmark's intelligence agency said yesterday.
Jakob Scharf said a 28-year-old man with ties to al-Qaida tried to enter Kurt Westergaard's home in Denmark's second largest city, Aarhus, on Friday night. But Westergaard pressed an alarm and police arrived minutes later.
The attack on the artist, whose rendering was among 12 that led to the torching of Danish diplomatic offices in predominantly Muslim countries in 2006, was "terror related," Scharf said.
He said the man would be charged with attempted murder.
Westergaard, 74, whose five-year-old granddaughter was in the home on a sleep-over, sought shelter in a specially made safe room when the suspect broke a window in the home, said police spokesman Preben Nielsen.
Officers arrived two minutes later and tried to arrest the assailant, who wielded an ax at a police officer. The officer then shot the man in a knee and a hand, authorities said.
The suspect's name was not released in line with Danish privacy rules.
"The arrested man has, according to PET's information, close relations to the Somali terrorist group al-Shabab and al-Qaida leaders in eastern Africa," Scharf said. PET is Denmark's intelligence agency.
Scharf said without elaborating that the man is suspected of having been involved in terror-related activities in east Africa. He had been under PET's surveillance but not in connection with Westergaard, he said.
The man, who had a permit to stay in Denmark, was to be charged yesterday with attempted murder for trying to kill Westergaard and the police officer, Scharf said.
Westergaard told his employer, the Jyllands-Posten daily, that the assailant shouted "revenge" and "blood" as he tried to enter the bathroom where he and the child had sought shelter.
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