Pakistan: Bomb explosdes near Danish embassy
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - June 2, 2008 The blast echoed through the Pakistani capital, wounded dozens
of people and left a crater more than three feet deep in the road
outside the embassy's main gate. People, some bloodied, ran away in
a state of panic.
Glass, fallen masonry and dozens of wrecked vehicles littered
the area. A perimeter wall of the embassy collapsed and its metal
gate was blown inward, but the embassy building itself remained
standing, though its windows were shattered.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but al-Qaida No.
2 Ayman al-Zawahri recently called for attacks on Danish targets in
response to the publication of caricatures in Danish newspapers
depicting the Prophet Muhammad.
The bombing was the worst anti-Danish attack since the cartoons
first appeared in September 2005.
"Denmark will not alter its policy because of a terror
attack," Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen told
reporters in Copenhagen. "We will not give in to terrorists."
The car bombing follows attacks by al-Qaida against the U.S.
Embassy in Yemen in March and another on the Israeli Embassy in
Mauritania in February, according to IntelCenter, a U.S. group that
monitors al-Qaida messages.
Pakistani officials condemned Monday's blast and the new
government indicated it did not want to stop talks to strike peace
deals with militants in its regions bordering Afghanistan, a
pursuit eyed warily by the U.S.
The government has insisted it is not talking to "terrorists"
but rather militants willing to lay down their weapons.
"There is no question of any impact of this incident on the
peace process, but of course it badly harmed our image in the
world," said Rehman Malik, the Interior Ministry chief.
Officials said at least six people - including two policemen -
were killed and 35 people were wounded in the blast. One of the
victims of the bombing could have had Danish citizenship, Foreign
Minister Per Stig Moeller said in a television interview. He did
not elaborate.
A Brazilian woman working at the Danish Embassy was hurt but her
injuries were not serious, Brazil's Foreign Ministry said.
It was the second targeting of foreigners in the usually
tranquil Pakistani capital in less than three months.
Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller said the explosion
killed a Pakistani cleaner and a handyman at the embassy and
injured two office workers.
Moeller said in a television interview that one of the dead may
have held a Danish passport. He did not elaborate.
Moeller said there was no way of immediately knowing the motive
for the attack. He said the prophet cartoons were among several
possible reasons.
Denmark faced threats at its embassies after a dozen newspapers
in February reprinted a depiction of Prophet Muhammad wearing a
bomb-shaped turban. That and other images in a Danish paper sparked
riots in the Muslim world in 2006.
Islamic law generally opposes any depiction of the prophet for
fear it could lead to idolatry.
Moeller also said Taliban militants "who wanted to hit us
because we are in Afghanistan" could be behind the blast. Denmark
withdrew its troops from Iraq last year but has more than 600
soldiers in the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan.
The Norwegian and Swedish governments immediately closed their
embassies. The homes of the Dutch ambassador, the Australian
defense attache and the Indian ambassador, located near the Danish
embassy, were damaged; No one was injured.
The U.S. Embassy urged Americans to use extra caution when
traveling through Islamabad and to avoid the blast site.
Policeman Muhammad Ashraf said it appeared to be a car bomb.
Someone had parked a car in front of the embassy and it exploded at
around 1 p.m, he said.
Senior police officer Ahmed Latif said the car used in the
bombing apparently had fake diplomatic license plates - easily
identifiable in Pakistan because they are red - to get access to
the street.
He said it was likely a suicide bombing but that would be
determined by investigators.
Kamal Shah, a senior Interior Ministry official, said the Danish
Embassy had promised to supply investigators footage from its close
circuit cameras. He said investigators were trying to determine
whether it was a suicide bombing, a timed bomb or detonated by
remote control.
The engine of the vehicle was catapulted 100 feet. It landed in
a private villa in a neighboring street.
"I was with a friend passing through a nearby street then we
heard a big bang," said bystander Muhammad Akhtar. "Then we saw
smoke and people running in a frenzy. We shifted at least eight or
nine injured to hospitals. They all have got serious injuries. They
were soaked in blood."
The office of a Pakistani development organization opposite the
embassy was badly damaged. Its roof had partly collapsed.
Anjum Masood, a field operations manager for the U.N.-funded
group, Devolution Trust for Community Empowerment, said dozens of
its 100 employees were wounded, mostly by flying glass. His own
left hand was bandaged.
He said the group had been worried about its location across
from the embassy. "We tried to voice our concern that it should be
moved ... We were under a lot of threat."
A plume of smoke rose above the scene of the blast and sirens
wailed. The Danish flag and the EU flag were blown off their staffs
and had snagged onto the first floor balcony of the main embassy
building. The guard house outside the embassy was badly damaged.
Ben Venzke, CEO of IntelCenter, said the bombing was likely the
work of the terror group or one of its affiliates.
He said al-Qaida laid out an extensive justification for attacks
against Danish diplomatic facilities and personnel in a video last
August, and repeated its threat earlier this year.
"Denmark went too far in its aggression against Muslims by
repeatedly slandering the Prophet, God's peace and prayers be upon
him. I urge and incite every Muslim who can harm Denmark to do so
in support of the Prophet," IntelCenter quoted al-Zawahri as
saying in an April 21 video.
Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir pledged Pakistan would do all it
could to safeguard foreign diplomatic missions. "I think the
Pakistani nation feels very ashamed today on incidents such as
these," he said.
The Pakistani capital is regarded as one of the most secure
cities in the country but embassies and aid agencies are likely to
consider an evacuation of all but nonessential staff after the
bombing.
In April, embassy personnel from the Netherlands shifted to a
luxury hotel in Islamabad due to concerns following the release of
a film critical of the Quran, the Islamic holy book, by a Dutch
parliament member.
Monday's attack follows a bombing in March at a restaurant in
Islamabad that killed a Turkish aid worker and wounded at least 12
others including at least four FBI personnel.
Taliban and al-Qaida-linked militants have launched a wave of
bombings in Pakistan over the past year, mostly targeting security
forces. But there has been a relative lull in violence since a new
civilian government took power two months ago and began the peace
talks.
The United States has expressed concerns that the peace deals
will simply give the militants time to regroup and intensify
attacks on U.S. and other foreign forces inside Afghanistan.
U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack called the blast
"a terrible terrorist attack" and said the United States would to
help the victims of the attack, including helping to relocate
diplomats whose residences were destroyed.
Pakistani Muslims have staged peaceful protests this year over
the Muhammad cartoons, including about 300 people in the central
city of Multan on Monday.
In April, Denmark briefly evacuated staff from its embassies in
Algeria and Afghanistan because of terror threats related to the
Muhammad drawings.
-----
Associated Press writers Stephen Graham, Zarar Khan and Nahal
Toosi in Islamabad, Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, and
Desmond Butler in Washington contributed to this report.