Swedish cartoonist and historian Lars Vilks, who depicted the key Islamic holy figure with the body of a dog in 2007, was at the Krudttonden cafe in Copenhagen, Denmark, when shots were fired around 4pm yesterday.

The cafe in northern Copenhagen was hosting an event titled 'Art, Blasphemy And The Freedom Of Expression'.

Danish prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt said: "We feel certain now that it's a politically motivated attack, and thereby it is a terrorist attack.

"We take this situation extremely seriously. We are in a high alarm all over the country, and our main priority at this stage is to catch the perpetrators and make sure that we find them as soon as possible."

Danish police, who initially said they were searching for two suspects, issued a picture of the main suspect last night, taken on street cameras near to where the getaway car, a VW Polo, was later found dumped.

The shooting comes little more than a month after the attack on the offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris which left 12 people dead.

French president Francois Hollande expressed his solidarity with Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt.

In a statement issued from his official Twitter account Hollande also said Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve would go to Copenhagen as soon as possible.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius condemned what he called a "terrorist attack" in a separate statement.

Prime Minister David Cameron said his thoughts were with the Danish people, tweeting: "I condemn the shootings in Copenhagen. Freedom of speech must always be protected."

Read more from the original source:

One dead in gun attack on Danish freedom of speech meeting