Photo: Police at Copenhagen Central Station on Wednesday, where they arrested suspects in relation to explosions near the Israeli embassy north of the city center. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT/Ritzau Scanpix
Two blasts early Wednesday near the Israeli embassy in Copenhagen were likely caused by hand grenades, Danish police said.
“Two explosions occurred at 3:20 A.M. at the Israeli embassy. It is our preliminary assessment that it was due to two hand grenades,” Jens Jespersen of the Copenhagen police told a press conference, adding that three young Swedes had been arrested.
Police in both Denmark and Sweden said Wednesday they were probing incidents involving explosions or gunfire around Israeli embassies in their capitals.
In Denmark police arrested the three Swedish nationals after two blasts were reported in the “immediate proximity” of the Israeli embassy in Copenhagen in the early hours.
Carolineskolen, a Jewish school located near the embassy in the Danish capital, said they would stay closed on Wednesday due their proximity to the crime scene, a spokesman for the Jewish Community in Denmark told Reuters.
Swedish police said the Israeli embassy in Stockholm had been targeted in a shooting just before 6 P.M. Tuesday.
No injuries were reported from the incidents but both came amid heightened international fears after Iran fired missiles at Israel on Tuesday.
The Swedes arrested are between 15 and 20, Jespersen said.
He said one suspect was arrested shortly after the incident, near the crime scene and the other two were arrested later. Police said in a earlier statement that two suspects had been arrested on a train at Copenhagen Central Station. The two were reported attempting to flee south by train to Padborg, Denmark, on the border with Germany.
“It’s too early to say if there is a link” between the blasts and the Israeli embassy, Danish police spokesman Jakob Hansen said about the Copenhagen incidents.
By mid-morning the area near the Israeli embassy in the upscale Copenhagen suburb Hellerup was cordoned off and police were working at the scene, an AFP correspondent reported.
Denmark’s intelligence service PET said it was monitoring events “closely” and assisting the police investigation.
“We are also in dialogue with the Israeli embassy about security and are constantly assessing the scale of the security measures already implemented in relation to a number of Jewish locations,” PET said in a statement to the AFP.
Writing on X, Israel’s ambassador to Denmark David Akov said he was “shocked by the appalling incident near the embassy a few hours ago.”
Israel’s Foreign Ministry said the embassy was closed during the explosions and that all of its staff are fine and no damage was caused to the building.
Heavy Surveillance
Swedish police said the Israeli embassy building had been hit by gunfire Tuesday evening.
“We’ve made finds that indicate a shooting at Israel’s embassy, but we don’t want to disclose exactly what finds have been made since there is an ongoing investigation,” Rebecca Landberg, Stockholm police press officer, told AFP.
Landberg said an investigation had been opened into an aggravated weapons offense, endangerment and unlawful threats.
Police had made no arrests, but Landberg said police were actively gathering and analyzing material from the many surveillance cameras in the area.
Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023, several incidents apparently targeting Israeli interests in Sweden have been reported. In February, police found a grenade in the Israeli embassy compound grounds, which the ambassador said was an attempted attack. In May, gunshots were fired outside the Israeli embassy, which prompted Sweden to boost security around Israeli interests and Jewish community institutions. The latest incidents come as tensions in the Middle East spiral with Iran firing a barrage of missiles at Israeli territory Tuesday night and Israel vowing to make Iran pay for the attack.
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