The Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET) arrested two men Monday evening in connection with an alleged terror plot. They have suspected links to the radical Islamist group Al-Shabaab in Somalia.

The two men are brothers, 18 and 23, and are Danish citizens of Somali origin who have been living in Denmark for 16 years.

One was arrested at his residence in Aarhus, Denmark, and the other was detained upon his arrival at the airport in Copenhagen.

The detainees are suspected of planning a terrorist act by, among other activities, having discussed the method, the target and the weapon types to be used, the PET said in a statement.

As a result of the arrests, PET believes that a specific act of terrorism has been averted, and as such the perceived threat level against Denmark is not affected, although it remains high.

One of the detainees is suspected of having voluntarily been trained, instructed or taught at an Al-Shabaab training camp in Somalia with a view to committing acts of terrorism, the PET statement said.

Al-Shabaab is a militant Islamic terrorist group that controls southern and central regions of Somalia, and has suspected ties to the higher-profile terrorist organization Al-Qaeda.

The two men will be arraigned in a Danish court later on Tuesday.

A Target For Terrorism

Denmark has been targeted by several terrorist plots that have been tied to militant Islamic activity, following the publishing of a cartoon by a Danish newspaper that depicted the Prophet Mohammed, an act that is typically considered blasphemous in most forms of Islam.

Last month, three young men with ties to Jordan, Turkey and Egypt were arrested and charged with illegal possession of automatic weapons and ammunition, and are being investigated in connection with planning an act of terrorism, the PET said.

Four other men are on trial for plotting a shooting rampage at the offices of the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, which published the incendiary cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed depicted with a turban in the shape of a bomb.

In 2010, a Somali man was arrested and faced terrorism charges after he broke into the home of the cartoonist, armed with an ax.

To me there is no doubt that the latest arrests are rooted in the Muhammad cartoons, PET's former operative chief Hans Joergen Bonnichsen told the Associated Press.

According to Bonnichsen, those arrested are kitchen-table terrorists with little experience or training.

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