Somali man charged in cartoonist attack

AARHUS, Denmark, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- Danish police said Saturday they have charged a Somali man who allegedly tried to enter the home of a cartoonist who has attracted the anger of Muslims.

The 28-year-old man, who has been charged with attempted manslaughter, denied he tried to kill Kurt Westergaard and a police officer who responded to an intruder call, the BBC reported Saturday.

The Guardian said Danish media reported the man, armed with a knife and ax, broke a window on the Aarhus-area home of the 74-year-old cartoonist about 10 p.m. Friday and tried to get in. While Westergaard is usually guarded in public, no one was on duty at the home and police were alerted by an alarm.

Westergaard and his 5-year-old granddaughter hid in a "panic room," CNN reported.

East Jutland Police Chief superintendent Morten Jensen said when officers arrived, the man tried to attack one of them with the ax and he was shot in his right leg and his left arm. Jensen said the wounds were not serious.

Westergaard ignited a firestorm in the Muslim world in 2005 when the Jyllands-Posten newspaper published his drawing depicting Mohammed wearing a turban shaped like a bomb with a fuse. The drawing was one of a series aimed at the Muslim belief that images of the prophet should not be produced or displayed and was considered the most offensive of the group.

Jyllands-Posten quoted Westergaard as saying the intruder "threatened to kill me."