Denmark Nabs Eight Al-Qaida Suspects

A regular broad strata of suspects.

Eight Terror Suspects Held in Copenhagen

Danish police on Tuesday say they have foiled a possible terror attack on the nation's capital Copenhagen. Members of Denmark's intelligence agency PET took into custody eight Islamic militants believed to have links to the terrorist group al-Qaida. The arrests were made in separate raids at 2 a.m. following an extended surveillance operation.

According to PET head Jakob Sharf, six of the suspects are Danish citizens and two are foreigners. "With the arrests, we have prevented a terror attack," Sharf told reporters. "Those arrested are militant Islamists with a connection to a leading al-Qaida person."

The suspects are of Afghan, Pakistani, Somali and Turkish origin and range in age from 19 to 29. Sharf said they were "producing an unstable explosive in a densely populated area" and that authorities had waited until they had gathered enough evidence before moving forward with the detentions.

They must have still be seething over the dreaded Mohammed cartoons, or perhaps an upcoming terror trial.

Since 2005, Danish police have staged three such raids against suspected terrorist networks. The trial of four men taken in one of those operations and suspected of plotting to attack a target in Europe begins on Wednesday in Copenhagen.

Bryan at Hot Air has a follow-up, including an AFP link.