The alleged al-Qaida link in a terror plot foiled in Denmark this week underscores fears that the country has emerged as a target for Islamic terrorists following last year's uproar over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, experts said Wednesday.

"Denmark has been named by all leading al-Qaida leaders as a potential target that they would love to see exposed to a terror attack," said Rita Katz, of the Washington D.C.-based SITE institute, which monitors militant postings. "This is because of the cartoons."

Eight people were arrested early Tuesday in what the Danish intelligence said was a crackdown on Islamic militants with links to senior al-Qaida leaders. The suspects were preparing explosives for a planned terror attack, the PET intelligence service said, but did not identify the target.
In a separate but similar case, four men went on trial Wednesday on charges of plotting terror attacks in Denmark or abroad. They were arrested a year ago in the central city of Odense after the Danish intelligence agency infiltrated the group. All pleaded innocent.
While police have not linked either case to the prophet cartoons, experts said they were not surprised that alleged terror cells were popping up in Denmark.

"For the last two years there's been a sudden uppick in (Islamist) rhetoric against Denmark," said Evan Kohlmann, an analyst at the U.S.-based globalterroralert.com.
He said the reasons were the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad published by Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten as well as Denmark's military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Many Muslims considered the cartoons published two years ago as blasphemous. Anger turned into massive protests in Muslim countries in early 2006 when Danish embassies were attacked by mobs in Pakistan, Syria, Indonesia, Iran and Lebanon.
Although street protests subsided, the cartoon issue still rankles extremists, Kohlmann said.
"It's not over. Islamic extremists still talk about it," he said. "Videos of anti-Danish protests are still being actively traded on the Internet on Islamic Web sites."
Imam Mostafa Chendid, the leader of the Copenhagen-based Islamic Faith Community, which played a central role in the prophet cartoon crisis, said it could not be excluded that individual extremists do "something foolish" against Denmark.
"There is a hatred against Denmark in the Muslim world because of the cartoons, the involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan," Chendid told The AP. "But I have told (my congregation) that those who have decided to live here must respect the Danish law."
The suspects arrested Tuesday were of Afghan, Pakistani, Somali and Turkish origin, the intelligence service said. Danish investigators had cooperated with authorities in other countries in the case.
Two of the suspects, both 21, were arraigned in court on preliminary charges of acquiring material to make one or more bombs for terror attacks in Denmark or abroad. The six others were released after questioning but remain suspects in the investigation.

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