Suicide blast at Danish embassy in Pakistan kills up to 8

The massive blast damaged the mission in central Islamabad and nearly destroyed a nearby UN agency. Dozens of cars were also wrecked by the force of the explosion, which gouged a huge crater out of the road.    Â

 

There was no claim of responsibility but officials said the attack was likely linked to the row over the Mohammed sketches, which Danish newspapers first published in 2005 and then reprinted in February.

 

Pakistan Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik said the "dastardly" bombing "could be a reaction to blasphemous sketches published in Denmark" and pledged that the culprits would be caught.

 

In Denmark, Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen condemned the "horrible, cowardly crime", telling reporters that there was no justification for the attack.

 

US President George W. Bush condemned the "terrorist" bombing and offered his condolences to the victims, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said. Pakistan has been a key ally in Washington’s "war on terror" since 2001.

 

An AFP reporter described scenes of panic after the blast and saw paramedics carrying off several blood-soaked casualties. The deafening blast shattered windows hundreds of meters away.

 

"I was in my room and there was a huge blast and the windows smashed. I was hit by a sharp object and am bleeding from my leg," said local resident Mohammad Dilshad.

Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller said the blast could be linked to recent calls by Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri for attacks on Danish targets because of the cartoons.

 

"We can suppose many things. Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda has called for attacks on Denmark (or) it could be the Taliban who want to hurt us because we are present in Afghanistan," he said.

 

Denmark has some 550 troops with a NATO-led force in Afghanistan fighting a Taliban militant insurgency.

 

Moeller said a Pakistani cleaner employed at the embassy died and three local employees were hurt, but the embassy’s four Danish staffers including the charge d’affaires were unharmed.

 

Pakistani government-run television and the state news agency said eight people died in all. Malik however said at least six were killed, including two policemen stationed at the embassy, and 27 wounded.

 

A senior security official said it was a "a suicide attack carried out in a vehicle, apparently targeting the Denmark embassy".

 

The nearby residences of the Indian and Dutch ambassadors and the Australian defense attache were damaged in the blast but no one was injured, diplomatic officials said.

 

Norway temporarily closed its embassy in Islamabad after the attack.

 

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani condemned the blast, officials said.

 

The Danish embassy, located outside Islamabad’s secure diplomatic enclave, shut briefly in February 2006 due to riots over the cartoons in Pakistan which left five people dead.

 

Denmark recently downgraded the embassy and moved out most foreign staff. In April, Denmark moved embassy staff in Algeria and Afghanistan to secret locations.

 

Hundreds of people staged a new protest against the cartoons in the central city of Multan on Monday, officials said.

 

The blast was the first in Islamabad since a bomb blast at an Italian restaurant frequented by foreigners on March 15 killed a Turkish woman and wounded 10 foreigners, including four US FBI staff.

 

Pakistan has experienced a lull in a year-long wave of suicide attacks since a new government came to power in March and began peace talks with Taliban militants based in the tribal belt bordering Afghanistan.

 

Pakistani Taliban movement spokesman Maulvi Omar said he had "no knowledge" about the blast.