|
A new attack on Kurt Westergaard, one of the 12 Danish cartoonists who drew images of the Prophet Muhammad. Read more:
On Friday, January 12, 2010, a Somali assassin was caught by Danish police after he attempted to gain entry to Westergard's home. Westergaard found his way to a secure room set up in his house for such an event and waited untill police arrived and neutralized the assassin with bullets to the hand and leg. ABC Television News reported on January 2nd that this attempted attack was not the scheme of a lone assassin but part of a plot by a semi-independent al Qaeda cell operating from Somalia under specific orders to kill Westergaard. The BBC, The Sunday Times, and CNN are also running stories on the attempted attack in Aarhus, Denmark's second largest city. The would-be attacker cracked a window in an apparent attempt to break into Westergaard's home. His 5 year old granddaughter was in the house at the time. The Sunday Times reporter Matthew Campbell in TimesOnLine wrote on January 3rd, "The attacker, who was also carrying a knife, shouted, “I’ll be back”, before going outside to confront police. He smashed a police car window with the axe and was shot in the hand and a knee when he threw the axe at an officer. He appeared in court on a stretcher yesterday to be charged with the attempted murder of Westergaard and the policeman". Jakob Scharf, head of Danish Intelligence, said yesterday the assailant had close relations to Al-Shabaab, a Somali terror group, as well as to Al-Qaeda leaders in eastern Africa. He had been under surveillance by intelligence, although not in connection with any plot against Westergaard. The attack, Scharf said, “confirms the terror threat directed at Denmark and against Westergaard in particular”. Angry protesters in Muslim countries in 2006 burnt embassies and stormed several European buildings in a wave of rioting and flag-burning in which more than 100 people were killed. The reaction had come after a dozen “Muhammad cartoons”, including the famous one by Westergaard, were published in several newspapers. This is the third credible attempt on Westergaard's life. |
