A Somali man who tried to kill Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, has been charged with attempted murder. The 28-year-old man was armed with a knife and an ax. He entered the cartoonist's home in Aarhus shouting he was going to kill him.

Mr Westergaard, whose depiction of the Prophet Muhammad infuriated Muslims worldwide in 2006, said, "It was horrible…It was close, very close." He took shelter in a specially designed space inside his home and set off an alarm. Police then shot the attacker in the arms and legs. Danish intelligence services say the attacker has links with Somali terrorist group al-Shabaab and al-Qaeda leaders in Africa.

Mr Westergaard's cartoon, published in 2005 in the Danish newspaper Jyllands Posten, depicted the Prophet Muhammad with a bomb in his turban. The cartoon prompted violent protests across the Muslim world. Protesters attacked Danish embassies and burned Danish flags. Dozens of people were killed during riots in the Middle East, Africa and Asia in early 2006.

Mr Westergaard has been under police protection ever since. His house has steel doors, bullet-proof windows and a special bathroom where he can hide in case of an emergency. He has now been taken to a secret address. He has been in hiding before.

There have been prior attempts to murder Mr Westergaard. In 2006 Danish police arrested several people on suspicion of plotting to kill him. In 2008 police arrested two Tunisians suspected of planning to strangle him. Islamist extremists have offered a reward of one million dollars for Mr Westergaard's death.

Photo: Kurt Westergaard - YouTube screenshot