CNN is reporting that a Somali man was shot as he attempted to enter the home of Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, who is know for his controversial depictions of the Muslim prophet Mohammed in the pages of Jyllands-Posten back in 2005.
The 27-year-old man, who was not identified, wielded an ax and a knife and cracked a window at Westergaard's home in Aarhus, said police spokesman Morten Jensen. A home alarm alerted police to the scene at 10 p.m., and they were attacked by the man, he said.
The officers shot the man in the right leg and left hand. He was hospitalized, but was not seriously injured, police said.
Westergaard has defended his cartoon, which shows Mohammed wearing a bomb with a lit fuse as a turban, saying he was trying to "show that terrorists get their spiritual ammunition from parts of Islam and with this spiritual ammunition, and with dynamite and other explosives, they kill people."
However, many in the Muslim world consider the cartoon an affront to Mohammed, and claim it depicts their prophet as a terrorist.
This isn't the first attempt on Westergaard's life. In February of 2008, Danish authorities arrested three Muslims, two Tunisians and one Moroccan-born Dane, and charged them with planning an attempt to murder the cartoonist.
In October of 2009, two Chicago men were arrested for allegedly plotting to kill both Westargaard and Jyllands-Posten's Cultural Editor Flemming Rose.
When at home in Denmark, Westergaard is placed under constant police surveillance by the Danish secret service. His house is fitted with steel doors, a panic room, reinforced glass in the windows and surveillance cameras.
