Danish police continue terror investigation

Police in Denmark have been searching houses where four men were arrested on Wednesday accused of planning a Mumbai-style terror attack.

The raids in two suburbs of Copenhagen reportedly uncovered a machine gun, a pistol and dozens of rounds of ammunition. Police evacuated residents near one of the properties after finding a suspected explosive device.

Three of the men arrested appeared in court on Thursday morning and were ordered to remain in temporary custody for four weeks. The fourth man, an Iraqi asylum seeker, has been released but the charges against him remain. A fifth suspect was arrested in Sweden.

Danish secret services say the men planned to attack the offices of a newspaper that in 2005 printed cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed.

The cartoonist in question, Kurt Westergaard, lives under police protection after receiving death threats and attempts on his life from radical Islamist groups.

Many Muslims consider any visual representation of the Prophet as blasphemy.

The target of the alleged foiled attack was the building that houses the Jylland-Posten newspaper.

Danish anti-terror police say the suspects planned “to kill as many people as possible” in an attack similar to the one in Mumbai in 2008.

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