Danish bikers call truce in deadly feud

The Hell's Angels and Bandidos biker gangs in Denmark yesterday declared an end to a feud that has left 12 people dead and more than 70 wounded in the past three years. Over the past 18 months attacks had become increasingly heedless of public safety, and in June a passerby was killed when a car-bomb exploded at a Bandidos clubhouse in Norway.

That attack was followed three days later by one that shocked Denmark, in which one Bandido was killed and three wounded by a man who opened fire at them outside a restaurant crowded with holidaymakers in the resort town of Liseleje. No further attacks have been reported since then and over the summer a series of talks were held with a Danish lawyer acting as mediator.

"We have agreed to co-operate to stop what has been happening," Jim Tinndahn, president of the Bandidos' Danish wing, said on Denmark's TV2 in an appearance with top Hell's Angels member Bent Svane Nielsen. Neither biker would confirm an earlier TV2 report that the Hell's Angels would absorb the Bandidos and did not give details of their agreement. "What's most important is that it's over," Svane Nielsen said.

But both he and Mr Tinndahn avoided using the word "peace" and the grudges built up during the feud may not be easily diluted. Nor was it immediately known whether the agreement would affect other gangs affiliated with the Hell's Angels and Bandidos. Each gang had about 120 members in Denmark, with smaller contingents in the other Scandinavian countries. The feud is believed to have begun in a dispute over control of drug and crime markets.