One man is dead and three policemen have been wounded in a shooting at a freedom of speech event attended by an artist who drew a controversial cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed, police said.

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 two men fired shots at around 4pm local time today.

The cafe in northern Copenhagen was hosting an event titled Art, Blasphemy And The Freedom Of Expression when the shots were fired, according to reports.

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

Copenhagen Police said both Mr Vilks and French ambassador to Denmark Francois Zimeray, who was also at the event, were both unharmed. The three police officers are also "out of danger", they said.

Mr Zimeray tweeted from his @FranceDK account shortly after the shooting, writing: "Still alive in the room."

Police said the perpetrators fled in a dark coloured VW Polo car and warned the public not to approach the vehicle or driver.

According to larsvilks.com, the event was marking the anniversary of the fatwa against Salman Rushdie. As well as Mr Vilks, Inna Chevchenko from the feminist protest group Femen was also due to attend.

It added that the Lars Vilks Committee, set up to support the cartoonist and freedom of expression, awarded its 2014 freedom prize to Charlie Hebdo last October.