Accused Copenhagen bomber makes court appearance

The prime suspect in a blast at Copenhagen hotel made an intial court appearance Saturday and faces a possible life sentence if convicted of explosives and weapons charges.

The Danish newswire Ritzau reported that the man was charged with trying to manufacture a bomb with the intent to cause harm to others and carrying a loaded firearm.

The suspect, whose name, nationality and ethnicity were still yet to be determined, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Danish police said that the man, who claimed that he could not remember his name or birth date, had used several identities during his stay in Denmark.

Following the hearing, the suspect was remanded to police custody.

The man was arrested in a park in central Copenhagen early Saturday after he was seen running from the hotel after the minor explosion, which only slightly injured the suspsect.

The blast prompted the Danish intelligence agency PET to raise the terror threat level for Denmark, which has been named by several terrorist groups as a target following the 2005 publication of a caricature series of Prophet Mohammed.

In 2008, the Danish embassy in Pakistan was hit by a suicide car bomb, which killed several people, including an employee at the embassy.

Danish and American intelligence agencies last year uncovered a terrorist plot targeting the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten, which initially published the controversial cartoons.