Nine killed in blast near Danish embassy

Islamabad: A massive car bomb explosion near the Danish embassy in the Pakistan capital yesterday left nine people dead and 30 injured, shattering a relative lull in violence since the new elected government took power two months ago.

About 40 to 50kgs of explosive was packed in the car that blew to pieces, head of the Islamabad administration, chief commissioner Hamid Ali Khan said. The blast left a large crater and the car's engine was found a few metres away. 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.

As special teams launched immediate investigation, sources said a suicide attacker could have carried out the bombing.

Heavily guarded

The Danish mission is located outside the heavily guarded main diplomatic enclave where most foreign embassies have their premises. In the same area in March a bomb attack on an Italian restaurant frequented by foreigners killed a Turkish woman and injured 10 people.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, while interior ministry officials said it could be a reaction to the publication of blasphemous sketches of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) in Denmark.

The publication of the offensive material in Danish newspapers had sparked a wave of demonstrations in Pakistan and various other Muslim countries in the recent past.

The embassy attack came while the new Pakistan government has been engaged in peace talks with militants in the northwestern tribal areas.

The main tribal warlord, head of the local Taliban movement, recently declared a ceasefire.

President Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and leaders of various political parties strongly condemned the attack.

The adviser to the prime minister Rahman Malek said an investigation team comprising officers from the Federal Investigation Agency, the intelligence services and the police had started a thorough probe.