Man detained over blast in Denmark

The alleged attacker was detained in a park near the hotel where the bomb exploded

A man has been detained after a minor explosion in a hotel in Copenhagen, the Danish capital, police have said.

Henrik Moeller Jacobsen, a police deputy inspector, said the man, who had slight injuries on his face and arms, was arrested in a park near where the blast happened.

“Between one and two o’clock (1100 and 1200 GMT), there was a small explosion at … the Joergensen hotel,” Moeller Jakobsen said.

He said the man was a foreigner, adding that his identity was currently being checked with authorities in his homeland, but could not confirm information by Danish tabloid Ekstra Bladet that he was from Luxembourg or Belgium.

The cause of the explosion was still being investigated, but Danish media reports said it was caused by a would-be suicide bomber.

The media said an alleged suicide bomber had triggered the explosion in the toilets of the hotel, adding the explosion had not harmed anyone else.

‘Suspicious bag’

Police were reported to have removed a suspicious bag from around the waist of the suspect and had opened fire on it. However, Moeller Jacobsen would not confirm reports that suggested the arrested man had tried to blow himself up.

“I don’t know if he is a bomber but there was an explosion and we take all explosions seriously. We are using all investigative resources,” he said.

Jorgen Dinesen, a Danish TV reporter, told Al Jazeera that while only one arrest had been made police were still searching the area for anyone else who could have been involved in the attack.

“Bomb squads and terror squads are searching the area, police don’t know if he has any friends or anyone planning a terror attack,” Dinesen said.

“At the moment they [police] are saying it is a loony, a one-man show. Although they haven’t mentioned terror at this point, they are on alert.”

The hotel is located about 100 yards from Copenhagen’s busiest commuter and regional train station.

Denmark has been considered vulnerable to attacks since 2005, when a major daily newspaper published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed that outraged Muslims.