Mosque shooting
August 31, 2011
A man was shot dead and two others were wounded outside a mosque in Copenhagen on Tuesday after Muslims there celebrated the end of Ramadan, police said.
The incident took place outside the Muslim Culture Institute in the capital's Vesterbro district. Police said the roads and a nearby parking lot were closed.
"The incident is related to the people who were present in the mosque, but not necessarily anything to do with the mosque or prayers. It is probably an internal dispute between people of Pakistani origin," Copenhagen Police Chief Inspector Lau Thygesentold told the national daily Politiken.
Thygesentold said no arrests had been made, but that police were pursuing "several perpetrators" in connection with the shooting.
The identity of the victim was not immediately made available. A 50-year-old man and another person were injured and reportedly rushed away in a private car.
"There was a disagreement between a group of young people and suddenly there were shots. I would say about 20 shots," witness Kuran Qureshi told TV2News. "Everyone ran for cover and hid behind vehicles and whatever they could find. There were women and children there too."
The Muslim Cultural Institute was created by Pakistani immigrants to Denmark in the late 1970s. It houses a mosque and offers classes on Islam in Danish for boys and girls.
Author: Andrew Bowen (AP, AFP)
Editor: Nancy Isenson