Denmark's intelligence agency said Thursday it is not changing its assessment of the threat level against the country after a warning by Osama bin Laden.
The intelligence service PET said it was sticking to the assessment it made last week, when it warned that the reprinting of a cartoon of Islam's Prophet Muhammad in Danish newspapers may have increased the risk to Danes at home and abroad.
"The latest threats don't immediately give reason to change this assessment," PET chief Jakob Scharf said in a statement.
In an audio recording posted Wednesday on a militant Web site, bin Laden accused the pope of helping in a "new Crusade" against Islam and warned of a "severe" reaction for Europeans' publication of cartoons seen by Muslims as insulting the Prophet Muhammad.
A dozen Muhammad cartoons, originally published in a Danish newspaper, triggered fiery protests in Muslim countries when they were reprinted by a range of European media in early 2006.
One of those drawings appeared anew in Danish newspapers Feb. 13, after police foiled an alleged plot to murder the cartoonist who drew it.
Last week, PET said the reprinting had drawn "negative attention" to Denmark and resulted in an increased threat level against Danish interests.
"That especially regards areas where militant extremist groups are active, including especially countries in North Africa, the Middle East as well as Pakistan and Afghanistan," Scharf added Thursday.
He also said that "PET is attentive to the different kinds of threats, which more and more often are communicated via the Internet."
Комментариев нет:
Отправить комментарий