Danish police shoot 'terrorist' trying to enter Mohammed cartoonist's home

ppgj

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Danish police shoot 'terrorist' trying to enter Mohammed cartoonist's home

Danish police have shot a Somali man linked to al-Qaida who tried to enter the home of an artist who drew controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

By Rebecca Lefort
Published: 8:06AM GMT 02 Jan 2010


Police caught a 27-year-old Somalian, who was armed with an axe, trying to break into the home of Kurt Westergaard at 10pm local time Photo: EPA


Mr Westergaard, 74, was one of 12 cartoonists commissioned by the Jyllands-Posten newspaper to produce caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed five years ago Photo: AFP/GETTY

The man, 28, who was armed with an axe and a knife, went to the home of Kurt Westergaard at 10pm local time on Friday, police said.

Police shot him in the leg and arm and he was arrested. He is expected to recover.

Mr Westergaard, 74, was commissioned by the Jyllands-Posten newspaper to produce caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed five years ago, including one which depicted the Prophet with a bomb in his turban.

He has received several death threats since the cartoon was published, but had spoken recently about trying to live as normal a life as possible at his home in Viby near the western city of Aarhus.

Mr Westergaard was there with a five-year-old granddaughter when the attacker tried to get in.

"I locked myself in our safe room. He tried to smash the entrance door with an axe," he said.

He said that the assailant shouted "revenge" and "blood" as he tried to enter the bathroom where Mr Westergaard and the child had sought shelter.

"My grandchild did fine," he said. "It was scary. It was close. Really close. But we did it."

Officers arrived two minutes later and tried to arrest the assailant, who wielded an axe at a police officer. One officer then shot the man in a knee and a hand, authorities said. Nielsen said the suspect was admitted to hospital but his life was not in danger.

Mr Westergaard was said to be "quite shocked" but was not injured.

Jakob Scharf, who heads the Danish intelligence service, PET, said the attack was "terror related".

"The arrested man has according to PET's information close relations to the Somali terrorist group, al-Shabaab, and al-Qaida leaders in eastern Africa," he added.

An umbrella organisation for moderate Muslims in Denmark condemned the attack.

"The Danish Muslim Union strongly distances itself from the attack and any kind of extremism that leads to such acts," the group said in a statement.

Denmark's cartoon crisis began in September 2005 when the Jyllands-Posten cultural editor Flemming Rose commissioned the satirical drawings as part of a discussion on free speech.

The cartoons inflamed anti-Danish and anti-Western sentiment among Muslims across the world.

In January 2006, after both the newspaper and the Danish government refused Muslim demands for an apology, a wave of violence ensued during which several Danish embassies were set alight, a boycott of Danish goods was encouraged across the Muslim world and violent anti-Danish demonstrations were held, particularly in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Several demonstrators were killed in separate incidents as security forces sought to control the protests.

In the past several people have been arrested on suspicion of plotting Westergaard's murder, Danish police have since offered protection to everyone in the country called Kurt Westergaard.

Danish police shoot 'terrorist' trying to enter Mohammed cartoonist's home - Telegraph
 

pankaj nema

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Country flag
the danish police are very vigilant about preventing revenge attacks on the news paper
that printed the cartoons.
last year a pakistani with a knife trying to enter was arrested ,then TOTURED to death
and his body sent to lahore to send a clear mesage to all would be terrorists.

Here kasab is enjoying our hospitality ,he has learnt marathi ,and is now running a
daily TAMASHA , changing his statements daily , basically having fun, and then he will
go to Supreme court . so far he has cost INDIA 32 crores.
 

ppgj

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Assassin shot in cartoonist's home has links to al-Qaida, say police

Denmark shocked by return of Islamist terrorism after 2005 storm over drawings of the Prophet Muhammad

Tracy McVeigh
The Observer, Sunday 3 January 2010



Danish police admitted yesterday that a Somalian caught breaking into the home of a cartoonist whose work sparked riots across the Muslim world five years ago was a would-be assassin with links to al-Qaida.

The 28-year-old had an axe and a knife when he was shot and wounded by police late on Friday night after cartoonist Kurt Westergaard heard windows being broken and pressed a panic alarm at his house in Aarhus.

News of the attack on Westergaard, 74, who was with his five-year-old granddaughter at the time, shocked many in Denmark who had believed the country's brush with Islamist extremism was consigned to the past.

Westergaard told his employer, the Jyllands-Posten daily, that he had locked himself and the child in the bathroom as the assailant shouted "revenge" and "blood" and tried to smash his way into the house. "My grandchild did fine," he told the newspaper. "It was scary. It was close. Really close. But we did it."

Westergaard has lived amid tight security with a special "safe room" inside his house ever since his caricature of the Prophet Muhammad with a bomb in his turban was first published by Jyllands-Posten in 2005. Islamic law prohibits any depiction of the prophet for fear it would lead to idolatry. The cartoon, one of 12, outraged many Muslims, who make up around 3% of Denmark's 5.5 million population.

It provoked a vigorous debate about free speech then, when other newspapers reprinted the caricatures in 2006 as an act of solidarity with the heavily criticised Jyllands-Posten, it triggered violence in a number of countries.

Three Danish embassies were attacked and at least 50 people died in rioting in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Several young Muslims have since been convicted in Denmark of planning bomb attacks, partly in protest at the cartoons. In 2008, Osama bin Laden said that Europe would be punished for the cartoons.

The Somalian, who has not been named under Danish privacy laws, was shot in the arm and leg after throwing an axe at an officer and is now in custody charged with the attempted murders of both the policeman and Westergaard.

He had "close ties to the Somali terror organisation al-Shabaab as well as to al-Qaida leaders in East Africa", the Danish security and intelligence service, PET, said in a statement.

Westergaard's attacker, who has a residence permit for Denmark, is also "suspected of being involved in terror-related activities in East Africa", the intelligence statement said.

"PET looks very seriously upon this case, which once again confirms the terror threat directed against Denmark and the cartoonist Kurt Westergaard in particular," said PET chief Jakob Scharf. Investigations are still continuing into whether the man acted alone. Last year, US authorities arrested two men in Chicago suspected of planning attacks on Westergaard and his newspaper.

An umbrella organisation for moderate Muslims condemned the attack. "The Danish Muslim Union strongly distances itself from the attack and any kind of extremism that leads to such acts," the group said in a statement.

Throughout the crisis, the then prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, distanced himself from the cartoons but resisted calls to apologise for them, citing freedom of speech and saying that the Danish government could not be held responsible for the actions of a free press.

Assassin shot in cartoonist's home has links to al-Qaida, say police | World news | The Observer
 

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