The suspect was a 25-year-old Danish citizen born in Bosnia-Herzegovina who sympathised with Islamic extremists, though that was not believed to have played any role in the shooting.

He opened fire when plain clothes officers tried to arrest him in Christiania, a drug-rife former squatter colony created in the 1970s when hippies occupied some abandoned navy barracks.

The suspect shot one officer in the head, a second in the thigh and a bystander in the leg before escaping.

Police tracked down the suspect several hours later three miles to the south in Kastrup, near the airport, where they shot him. He was taken to hospital in a critical condition.

He was not able to appear before a pre-trial hearing on Thursday but the court decided he should be kept under formal arrest until he is fit enough to face a hearing.

The man was held on preliminary charges of three murder attempts, organised hashish sale and illegal weapons possession.

He apparently has sympathies for the Islamic State group and links to Millatu Ibrahim, a Salafist group that is outlawed in Germany, said police.

But there is currently no evidence that this influenced the shootings at Christiania, said the police statement.

Prime minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said the shooting of police officers was despicable and disgusting.

Police shot and killed a 22-year-old gunman in February 2015 after he opened fire at a free speech seminar and a synagogue in Copenhagen, killing two people and wounding five police officers.