Danish authorities say a Somali man has been charged with two counts of attempted murder after trying to break into the home of the cartoonist whose drawings of the Prophet Muhammad angered the Muslim world.
Police say the the 28-year-old suspect was charged at a hearing Saturday with the attempted murder of the cartoonist and a policeman. He denied the charges.
The suspect, armed with a knife and an ax, tried to enter Kurt Westergaard's home, in Viby, near the western town of Aarhus late Friday. Police officers who arrived on the scene shot him in an arm and knee.
The head of the Danish Security and Intelligence Service, Jakob Scharf, said in a statement the intruder has close ties to the Somali terrorist group al-Shabaab, as well as al-Qaida leaders in eastern Africa.
Police did not publish the intruder's name.
Westergaard angered the Muslim world with a series of controversial 2005 caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. He has received several death threats since then.
The cartoonist fled with his granddaughter ran to a special safe room in his house from where he could call police.
The Associate Press reports that a moderate Muslim organization in Denmark, the Danish Muslim Union, condemned the attack in statement Saturday.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.
