Copenhagen, January 02: A Somali man wielding an axe and a knife was shot by police as he attempted to kill an artist who drew a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad that sparked outrage in the Muslim world, Denmark’s head of intelligence said today.
Jakob Scharf said in a statement that a 28-year-old man with ties to al-Qaeda attempted to enter Kurt Westergaard’s home in Aarhus shortly after 10 pm (2100 GMT) yesterday. But Westergaard pressed an alarm and police arrived minutes later, foiling the attempt on his life.
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.
–PTI