Copenhagen police believe they killed man behind attacks

COPENHAGEN - Copenhagen police said on Sunday they believe a man shot dead by officers early Sunday was responsible for two fatal attacks in the Danish capital.

Police said video surveillance indicated the man was behind both killings, one which took place at a panel discussion about Islam and free speech, and the other outside Copenhagen's main synagogue.

"We believe the same man was behind both shootings and we also believe that the perpetrator who was shot by the police action force at Noerrebro station is the person behind the two attacks," Torben Moelgaard Jensen told a press conference.

Lars Vilks, the Swedish cartoonist whose controversial caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed sparked worldwide protests in 2007, had been among the speakers at the Krudttoenden cultural centre when a man opened fire.

A 55-year-old man was killed when the gunman sprayed bullets at the cultural centre, while a young Jewish man was gunned down outside the synagogue.