Swedish teenagers charged over blasts near Israel’s Copenhagen embassy

Danish police said on Wednesday they were investigating two blasts that went off in an area near the Israeli embassy in the capital. — Denmark OUT (AFP)
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  • The two teenagers, aged 16 and 19, were detained on Wednesday on a train at Copenhagen’s main railway station

COPENHAGEN: Two Swedish teenagers were charged in a Danish court on Thursday with possessing five hand grenades and detonating two of them on a rooftop near Israel’s embassy in Copenhagen, the prosecutor said in court.
No one was injured in the two explosions early on Wednesday, but the building near the embassy sustained some damage, investigators said.
The two teenagers, aged 16 and 19, were detained on Wednesday on a train at Copenhagen’s main railway station, and were questioned on Thursday in a Copenhagen city court. The court banned publication of their names.
A third man, aged 19, was detained elsewhere in the Danish capital and was released after questioning, Danish police said.
The police said they were investigating whether the embassy was the target of the explosions.
The blasts in the Danish capital followed a surge in tensions in the Middle East.
Israel, which has been fighting the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip for nearly a year, has sent troops into southern Lebanon after months of cross-border exchanges of fire with the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement. Iran fired a barrage of missiles at Israel on Tuesday.
This year at least 10 Swedes have been charged in Denmark with attempted murder or weapons possession, sparking criticism over the spread of organized crime.
Swedish authorities have previously said security police averted several planned attacks linked to Iranian security services using local criminal networks, a charge that Iran has said is “baseless.”