Suspect prepared bomb for Danish cartoon newspaper: police

The man suspected of having set off a bomb in a Copenhagen hotel last week was “very likely” preparing a letter bomb for a Danish newspaper that published controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

“The letter, which contained TATP and steal bearings, was according to our information destined for the headquarters of (daily) Jyllands-Posten in Viby,” the inspector in charge of the investigation, Svend Foldager, told reporters.

The newspaper published 12 caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed in 2005, triggering Muslim anger and violent protests the following year.

Acetone peroxide, commonly called TATP, can be used to make explosives as was the case in the 2005 London bombings that killed 52 people.

“We are not 100 percent sure, but we estimate it is very likely that Jyllands-Posten was the target” of the letter bomb, he said.

Foldager added the letter bomb was ready to go off and that it had the power of a hand grenade.

According to police technicians, it could have “hurt, but not killed those who would have opened it,” he said.

The bomb exploded a week ago in the toilets of the budget Joergensen hotel in central Copenhagen, slightly injuring the suspect.