Denmark on edge as second shooting within hours rocks capital

Police said it wasn't clear whether the two incidents were linked

A gunman opened fire on a Copenhagen cultural centre, killing one man and wounding three police officers in what authorities called a terror attack against a free speech event featuring an artist who had caricatured the Prophet Muhammad.

After searching for the gunman for hours, police reported another shooting near a synagogue in downtown Copenhagen after midnight today. One person was shot in the head and two police officers were shot in the arms and legs, police said, adding it wasn't clear whether the two incidents were linked. The gunman fled on foot.

Witnesses in a bar across the street from the synagogue said they saw special police teams moving in with automatic rifles.

"We looked out the window and saw this guy lying on the street," said Rasmus Thau Riddersholm, 33. "We were told by police to stay in the back of the room, away from the windows and doors."

The earlier shooting came a month after extremists killed 12 people at a satirical newspaper in Paris that had sparked Muslim outrage with its depictions of Muhammad.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the first shooting, which took place shortly before 4 pm yesterday. Danish police said the gunman used an automatic weapon to shoot through the windows of the Krudttoenden cultural centre, which TV footage showed were riddled with bullet holes. The gunman then fled in a carjacked Volkswagen Polo that was found later a few kilometres (miles) away, police said.

They said the victim was a man about 40 who was inside the cultural centre. He has not yet been identified. Two of the wounded officers belonged to the Danish security service PET, which said the circumstances surrounding the shooting "indicate that we are talking about a terror attack."

Police initially said there were two gunmen but later said they believed there was only one shooter. They described him as 25 to 30 years old with an athletic build and carrying a black automatic weapon. They released a blurred photograph of the suspect wearing dark clothes and a scarf covering part of his face.