Danish state prosecutors on Tuesday formally charged two men with plotting a bomb attack, saying they had manufactured and tested explosives.The men, aged 21 and 22, were arrested with six others in September on suspicion of preparing an attack and having links with al Qaeda and had been in custody since their arrest.
One of the eight was charged separately on Tuesday with inciting others to kidnap Danish citizens abroad to force Denmark to release the two suspects in the bomb plot.
The five other men have not been formally charged and are not in custody but are under investigation, authorities said.
The Danish Security and Intelligence service described the men as militant Islamists with international connections. They ranged in age from 19 to 29, and came from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Turkey. Six of them are Danish citizens.
Security experts have said Denmark is a target for militants because of its military involvement in Afghanistan and a crisis sparked in 2006 after cartoons lampooning the Prophet Mohammad were published in a Danish newspaper.
Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden this week said Europe would be punished for the cartoons, first published by the daily Jyllands-Posten in September 2005.
Last month, Danish and foreign newspapers reprinted one of the cartoons in solidarity with one of the cartoonists after three men were arrested for allegedly planning to kill him. The reprints triggered more Muslim anger.
Under new anti-terror laws introduced in Denmark after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States the justice minister decides whether to prosecute suspects after recommendations from the state prosecutors.
In a statement, the State Prosecutor's Office said Justice Minister Lene Espersen had concurred with its view and said the men had "prepared the making of one or more bombs for use in a terror attack in an unknown location".