Danish cartoon crisis has upped terror threat: intelligence report
COPENHAGEN (AFP) — The recent republication of contentious Danish caricatures of the prophet Mohammed has increased the threat of attacks in Denmark and against Danes abroad, the national intelligence service said Friday.
"The republishing of the Mohammed drawings has led to renewed negative focus on Denmark in a number of countries," the Danish Intelligence and Security Service (PET) said in a report issued by its Centre for Terror Analysis.
"As a result there can at the moment be an increased threat towards Denmark from foreign militant extremists as well as towards Danes and Danish interests abroad," it added.
Twelve cartoonists drew caricatures of the Muslim prophet for Danish newspaper Jyllandsposten in 2005 that sparked angry protests across the Muslim world.
After culminating in early 2006 with the torching of Danish diplomatic offices in Damascus and Beirut and the death of dozens of people in Nigeria, the protests tapered off.
They resumed however after the most controversial of the drawings, featuring the prophet's head with a turban that looks like a bomb with a lit fuse, was widely republished last month in a show of solidarity after police foiled a murder plot against the cartoonist.
PET on Friday cautioned that Danes and Danish interests in "places where militant extremist groups are active, including in North Africa, the Middle East, in Pakistan and Afghanistan" were especially at risk.
"The terror threat comes especially from networks, groups and individuals who adhere to different types of militant Islamist ideologies, including Al-Qaeda-related groups," PET said, adding that "terror attacks can take place ... without warning."
Referring to trends observed in Denmark and other European countries in recent years, the intelligence agency cautioned that "a growing portion of militant extremists are ... born and raised in the West, so-called 'home-grown' extremists."
PET said it expected future attacks to be directed against public transportation, as was the case with bombings in Madrid in 2004 and in London in 2005, but pointed out that "terror groups are constantly seeking new and surprising and thereby very unpredictable means of attack."
On a positive note, the agency emphasised however that "the risk of becoming a victim of a terror attack in Denmark or abroad remains very limited."
