2:56am UK, Saturday January 02, 2010

Rob Cole, Sky News Online

Danish police say they have shot an al Qaeda-linked man armed with an axe who broke into the home of a controversial cartoonist.

Police attend scene of break-in at home of the Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard

Police say the 28-year-old Somali man was trying to kill Kurt Westergaard, who triggered worldwide protests after drawing cartoons of Islam’s Prophet Mohammed.

The intruder was linked to Somali terror organisation al Shabaab and al Qaeda leaders in east Africa, the Danish Security and Intelligence Service PET said in a statement.

The intruder was shot twice and is being held in custody.

Lotte Mejlhede, of TV2, told Sky News Mr Westergaard, 74, fled to a safe room at his Aarhus home after spotting the would-be attacker.

Ms Mejlhede, who spoke to Mr Westergaard, said: “He pressed his panic alarm button because a 28-year-old Somalian was trying to to break into his house and actually got into the house.

“He had a knife and axe and was trying to attack him.

“Mr Westergaard went to a safe room in his house.”

She added: “This man tried to escape and attacked the police.”

Mr Westergaard’s five-year-old grandson was also with him.

Chief Supt Morten Jensen, from East Jutland police, said: “A personal alarm was received from Mr Westergaard’s house.

Officers found the man “armed with an axe and a knife in either hand”.

The security service said the man, who will be charged with attempting to kill Mr Westergaard and the police officer, had been involved in a “terror-related network” that had long been under investigation in connection with threats to Westergaard.

“PET looks very seriously upon this case which once again confirms the terror threat directed against Denmark and the cartoonist Kurt Westergaard in particular,” PET chief Jakob Scharf said in the statement.

“He broke a window of Mr Westergarrd’s house. He tried to attack one officer with an axe and he was shot in his right leg and his left arm,” Chief Supt Jenson said.

“He’s not seriously injured, he’s in custody.”

Denmark’s Ritzau news agency said police sappers were sent in to the home to look for a bomb that might have been laid.

The Danish cartoonist caused fury in the Islamic world four years ago after a Danish newspaper published his drawings of Mohammed wearing a turban in the shape of a bomb.

There were violent protests in many Islamic countries that lead to dozens of deaths in Nigeria, Libya and Pakistan.

Demonstrators burned Danish flags in protests that culminated in February 2006 with the torching of Danish diplomatic offices in Damascus and Beirut.

Mr Westergaard received several death threats.

Most Muslims consider any depiction of the founder of Islam as offensive