Denmark on Edge After Two Terror Attacks Hit Copenhagen

Feb 15, 2015 07:42 AM EST

(Photo : Reuters) Forensic investigators are seen at the site of a shooting in Copenhagen February 14, 2015. A civilian was killed and three police were wounded on Saturday in a shooting at a meeting in Copenhagen attended by Lars Vilks, an artist who has received death threats since publishing images of the Prophet Mohammad. Danish police confirmed one civilian had been killed in the shooting and said the two suspects had fled in a car after the attack on the gathering, which had been billed as a debate on art and blasphemy. REUTERS/Martin Sylvest/Scanpix Denmark (DENMARK - Tags: CRIME LAW)

Denmark has been hit by terror attacks. The incident has similarities to what happened in January at the office of satire newspaper Charlie Hebdo, in Paris, France.

Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning Schmidt confirmed on Saturday that it was a politically motivated attack,

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Reuters reports that the first attack in Krudttoenden resulted in the death of a man in an art café that is hosting Lars Vik, a Swedish artist who has been threatened with death due to his portraying prophet Mohammad in his cartoons.

According to witnesses, French Ambassador Francois Zimeray just finished an introduction to the meeting in the café where Viks was the main speaker and the likely target when a gunman from the outside fired 40 shots at the café, killing a 55-year-old man.

Viks angered many Muslims in 2007 after he depicted the Islam prophet as a dog, which resulted in the cartoonist needing police protection since 2010. In 2013, a court sentenced an American woman 10 years prison term in the U.S. for planning to kill Viks.

In 2005, Denmark was also on the receiving end of Muslim anger for publication in a local newspaper of a cartoon that lampooned the prophet.

The attacker was wearing a mask, said Helle Merete Brix, organizer of the event.

The second attack took place in a nearby synagogue in Krystalgade, another part of Copenhagen. A man was shot in the head and later confirmed to have died, while two cops were wounded.

The victim in the second incident was a young Jewish man who was guarding a Jewish communion party, said the head of that community.

On Sunday morning, Danish police shot a man in the capital city Copenhagen as part of an intensive manhunt for the first two shootings, which resulted in two deaths and five injured. The massive search for the gunman used helicopters and several armored vehicles driving through Copenhagen's streets.

Police said that by 5 a.m., they killed a man in Norrebro, located near the first two shooting incidents, who is the suspect in both shooting incidents.

Like the Danish PM, European Council President Donald Tusk condemned the brutal terrorist attack that targeted the bloc's fundamental values and freedoms, especially freedom of expression.

Tagsterror attack, Charlie Hebdo, copenhagen