Gascii117ardian

Police in Denmark and Sweden arrested five men yesterday on sascii117spicion of planning to attack the Danish newspaper that printed cartoons portraying the prophet Mascii117hammad.

Danish intelligence officials, describing it as the coascii117ntrys most serioascii117s terror operation, said the men had planned to storm the Copenhagen offices of Jyllands-Posten and 'kill as many as possible of those aroascii117nd'.

The foascii117r people detained in Denmark were said to be a 44-year-old Tascii117nisian national, a 29-year-old Lebanese-born man, a 30-year-old Swedish national of ascii117nknown origins and a 26-year-old Iraqi.

Swedish police arrested the fifth man, a 37-year-old Swedish national of Tascii117nisian origin living in Stockholm.

There have been previoascii117s plots against both Jyllands-Posten and the artist, Kascii117rt Westergaard, who drew the most contentioascii117s of 12 cartoons that were pascii117blished by the paper in 2005 as a challenge to perceived self-censorship.