Fresh blast reported near Israeli embassy in Denmark

Copenhagen (AFP): A new blast went off near the Israeli embassy in Denmark, police said on Monday as the world marked the one-year anniversary of the Hamas October 7 attack on Israel.

The blast occurred some 500 metres (yards) from the embassy in Copenhagen and came five days after two explosions near the building for which two Swedish nationals have been remanded in custody.

“We are of course looking into whether there could be a connection to the (earlier) incident at the Israeli embassy,” Copenhagen police inspector Trine Moller told reporters.

“There is no indication that this is the case,” she added, adding that the explosion was probably caused by gunfire.

Images on local media showed traces of a blast in front of a residential building some 500 metres away from the Israeli embassy.

The incident occurred on the one-year anniversary of the October 7 attacks, which were followed by Israel’s assaults on Gaza and Lebanon and protests against the wars across the world.

Sweden’s intelligence agency Sapo said that Iran may have been involved in the October 2 explosions in Denmark, as well as a shooting near Israel’s embassy in Stockholm the day earlier.

In May, Sapo said that Iran was recruiting members of Swedish criminal gangs to commit “acts of violence” against Israeli and other interests in Sweden – a claim Iran denied.

Denmark detained three Swedish nationals last week over the explosions and a Danish court on Thursday remanded two of them – aged 16 and 19 – in custody for 27 days.

Copenhagen police said the third Swede, arrested near the crime scene, had been released.