Denmark is the latest target of Islamic terrorism. The double attack, one outside a synagogue, has left the Jewish community shaken.
(Photo: shutterstock)
Muslim terrorists struck twice in Copenhagen, Denmark’s capital, on Saturday, leaving two victims dead and several wounded in two shooting attacks.
The first attack, which resembled the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris last month, targeted an arts café during an event called “Art, Blasphemy and Freedom of Expression,” held in support of free speech. The event hosted artist Lars Vilks, who is known for his anti-Muslim cartoons and has provoked the ire of Muslims worldwide in the past. Vilks has also been threatened with death for his cartoons of Mohammad, Islam’s most revered figure.
French ambassador Francois Zimeray got up to speak at the event, praising Denmark’s support for freedom of speech following the Muslim terror attacks last month in which 16 people were murdered.
Moments after he began to speak the terrorist fired some 40 rounds into the café, killing a 55-year-old man and wounding three others. The terrorist reportedly got into a waiting vehicle and fled the scene.
Helle Merete Brix, the organizer of the event at the cafe, told Reuters she had seen an attacker wearing a mask. “The security guards shouted ‘Everyone get out!’ and we were being pushed out of the room,” Brix said. “They tried to shoot their way into the conference room … I saw one of them running by, wearing a mask. There was no way to tell his face.”
Police said they believe Vilks, the main speaker, was the target.
“We feel certain now that it was a politically motivated attack, and thereby it was a terrorist attack,” Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt told Reuters, speaking on Saturday, close to the site of the cafe.
Terrorist Attacks Synagogue
(Photo: shutterstock)
A few hours later a gunman opened fire on a synagogue not far from the cafe, killing one person and wounding two policemen, one in the arm and the other in the leg. The victim, a Jew, has been identified as Dan Ozen, 37, a community member and a volunteer security guard at the synagogue. A bat mitzvah was underway during the attack.
The guard was reportedly on site because of the attack at the café. “We had contacted the police after the shooting at Café Krudttønden to have them present at the bat mitzva, but unfortunately this happened anyway,” Dan Rosenberg Asmussen, a Copenhagen Jewish community leader, told Denmark’s TV 2 News. “I dare not think about what would have happened if (the killer) had access to the congregation.”
The attacker fled on foot.
Danish police launched a massive manhunt to track assailants. Helicopters were heard in the skies and armored vehicles were seen patrolling the streets. The police were initially unsure if the two attacks were carried out by the same person or people.
The Danish security forces found and shot dead a terrorist in Copenhagen on Sunday not far from where the two terror attacks occurred. The terrorist opened fire on police and they returned fire, killing him. No police were hurt in the incident. The individual is believed to be the perpetrator of the two terror attacks.
Danish security forces remain on high alert.
European Council President Donald Tusk called the tragedy “another brutal terrorist attack targeted at our fundamental values and freedoms, including the freedom of expression.”
In comments to the Arutz 7 media outlet, Denmark’s former Chief Rabbi Brent Lexner said that the community was not surprised.
While Prime Minister Netanyahu called on Jews to emigrate to Israel en masse, Copenhagen’s envoy to Israel, Jesper Vahr, said “The solution for the Jews of Denmark is not to leave in the wake of the terror attacks… We will do everything in our power so that the Jewish community in Denmark feels safe.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman responded by stating that the attacks “demonstrate what we have said for years: Israel and the Jewish people have been victims of this terror primarily because they are at the forefront of the terror war being waged against the West and the entire free world.”
Liberman noted, “The international community must not satisfy itself with declarations and rallies against this terror, but must go beyond the boundaries of what is politically correct and wage all-out war to root out Islamic terror.”
He noted that the Israel Foreign Ministry is in constant contact with its embassy in Denmark, and is closely following the events.
By: World Israel News Staff