COPENHAGEN, June 13: Al Qaeda is planning to carry out attacks on Danish soil, the head of the Scandinavian country’s intelligence service warned in a newspaper interview on Friday.

“We see now ... Al Qaeda behind a targeted training and planning of terror attacks on Danish soil,” PET chief Jakob Scharf said in an interview with free daily Nyhedsavisen.

“Al Qaeda has had, and still has, a strong wish to hurt Denmark and Danish interests,” he added.

The network claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on the Danish embassy in Islamabad last week that killed eight people, including two Pakistanis working at the mission and one Dane of Pakistani origin.

In an Internet statement signed by one of Al Qaeda’s leaders, Mustafa Abu al Yazid, the group said it had carried out the attack “in revenge” for Danish caricatures of the Holy Prophet (pbuh).

“We are keeping an eye on people and networks in Denmark who constitute a concrete threat and who have the will and the ability to carry out an attack,” Scharf said, adding that PET was working to counter the threat.

In Sweden, the head of the intelligence service’s counter-terrorism unit, Mats Paulsson, told the TT news agency on Friday that the agency was monitoring a number of people in the country suspected of travelling abroad for “terrorist training”.—AFP

Opinion

Editorial

Threat perception
Updated 07 Dec, 2024

Threat perception

Despite clear proof of the threat posed by malign armed actors, the military and civilian leadership prefers to focus on political opponents.
Humanity at risk
07 Dec, 2024

Humanity at risk

HUMAN trafficking continues to remain an area where the state has utterly failed its citizens. While global...
Banks and larger goals
07 Dec, 2024

Banks and larger goals

THAT banks in Pakistan “prioritise profit over purpose” and promote financial products with limited knowledge of...
Gaza genocide
Updated 06 Dec, 2024

Gaza genocide

Unless Western states cease their unflinching support to Israel, the genocide is unlikely to end.
Agri tax changes
06 Dec, 2024

Agri tax changes

IT is quite surprising if not disconcerting to see the PPP government in Sindh dragging its feet on the changes to...
AJK unrest
06 Dec, 2024

AJK unrest

THERE is trouble brewing in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, where a coalition comprising various civil society organisations...