Police probe blast at Danish tax office

Danish police on Wednesday said an explosion that went off at the country's tax agency in Copenhagen was a deliberate "attack."

"It's something someone has done on purpose," Copenhagen police inspector Jorgen Bergen Skov, told a press briefing, adding that it was too early to determine a motive.

"We take this very seriously and already last night established a broad and comprehensive investigation," Skov said. "We cannot and will not accept an attack like this."

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said that while the attack was deliberate, it was too soon to label it as a "terror attack."

"We are talking about a serious crime and a very violent explosion, so it is a wonder no one was seriously injured," Frederiksen told reporters.

Timing suggests no intent to harm

At the time of the blast, two people were inside the building but both were unharmed, Skov said, but one person outside the nearby Nordhavn Station needed medical treatment after being hit by debris.

Skov said that the timing of the blast suggested that the perpetrator did not intend to harm anybody.

The explosion shattered windows and caused severe damage to the building's exterior. Military bomb experts were attending the scene on Wednesday.

Repeat attack

Danish tax minister, Morten Bodskov, wrote on Twitter that it was "an outrageous and totally unacceptable act" after inspecting what he described as "severe damages to the tax agency's building."

The tax agency was hit by an explosion 16 years ago to the day in what police at the time described as "vandalism," but police inspector Skov said the police investigation had shown the two events were not linked.

Tax Agency employees were told to work from home on Wednesday.

law/rt AFP, Reuters)

Every evening, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here.