(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Denmark's security service PET went on the defensive yesterday following claims by opposition parties that warning signs about the gunman who carried out the deadly weekend attacks in Copenhagen may have been missed.
The service said that an alert flagging concerns about the gunman accused of the shootings had not given grounds to believe he had been planning such attacks.
Omar el-Hussein is accused of killing a Jewish man at a synagogue and a film director at a freedom of expression event in Copenhagen as part of a shooting spree that started on Saturday afternoon and ended with his death early on Sunday.
He was shot and killed by a SWAT team outside his apartment in Norrebro, a neighbourhood with a significant immigrant community, concluding a massive manhunt.
Opposition parties have urged the government to review whether there were security lapses or failures to follow up alerts about the 22-year-old gunman.
The calls came after Denmark's Prison and Probation Service said that it had reported concerns about his "extremist views" to the PET while he was held in custody a year ago in connection with a stabbing.
In its statement, the PET said it had received an alert in September and in line with procedures had "evaluated" if there were grounds for it to act.
"Based on the alert from the Prison and Probation Service, the PET had no grounds to believe that the now deceased 22-year-old alleged gunman had planned the attack," the agency said.
The prison service did not offer details, but according to daily newspaper Berlingske, the man had said he wanted to join the jihadist Islamic State (IS) in Syria.
The Prosecution Authority and Copenhagen city officials were also not alerted about the prison service's concerns, the report said.
"We need to find out exactly what happened during the process and if there were any mistakes made by the police, the PET or a third party," Pernille Skipper of the left-leaning opposition Unity List told Berlingske.
Similar calls were made by the opposition Liberals and right-wing Danish People's Party.
The ruling Social Democrats have no objections to a review, the party's judicial affairs spokeswoman Trine Bramsen told news agency Ritzau.
Tensions remain high in Copenhagen.
A bomb alert was called off yesterday at the Krudttonden cafe and culture centre that hosted the freedom of expression event after staff received a suspicious letter.
Bomb disposal experts sent to the scene said they found no explosives.
Tens of thousands of people took part in torch-lit vigils late on Monday to commemorate the victims of the weekend attacks, which the PET says may have been inspired by last month's events in Paris.
Also yesterday, the five officers injured on the attacks were released from hospital, a police official Thorkiel Fogde said.
He also thanked the public for its contribution to ongoing investigations on the attacks, saying that the police had received thousands of tip-offs of which 300 had been relevant.
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