The threat: Known attack scenarios
Terrorist attacks in the Western world are most often associated with one of three forms of violent extremism. Islamic extremism, Right-Wing extremism and Left-Wing extremism. The Danish Centre for Prevention of Extremism defines extremism in this way:
Extremism refers to individuals or groups who commit or seek to legitimise violence or other unlawful acts in reference to societal conditions with which they are dissatisfied.
In the past, terrorist attacks against organisations, crowds and individuals have been completed, failed and foiled, in Denmark and the rest of the world. These attacks have occurred both in the public domain and in private spaces.
To gain as much media coverage as possible, an attacker will typically aim to harm a large number of people simultaneously or targets of symbolic importance. However, there have also been cases where attacks have targeted specific individuals.
In their "Assessment of the terrorist threat against Denmark (2023)" The Danish Security and Intelligence Service (DSIS) describes the terrorist threat in Denmark in the following way:
CTA [Centre for Terror Analysis] assesses that the collective terrorist threat against Denmark remains serious.