A suicide bomber blew up a car outside the Danish embassy in Islamabad on Monday, killing eight people and wounding nearly 30 others, state media and officials said.
The blast badly damaged the mission and a nearby UN agency and left a huge crater in the road outside. Dozens of cars were wrecked by the force of the explosion and some were on fire, an AFP reporter said.
Denmark recently downgraded the embassy and moved out most foreign staff due to threats linked to a furore over the reproduction in Danish media in February of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH), diplomatic sources said.
“It was a suicide attack carried out in a vehicle, apparently targeting the Denmark embassy,” a senior Pakistani security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
State-run television and the official Associated Press of Pakistan news agency said eight people were killed. Another security official said at least six died, including two policemen stationed outside the embassy, and 27 others were wounded.
President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani condemned the attack, foreign secretary Salman Bashir told reporters at the scene, blaming “terrorists” for the bombing.
In Copenhagen, Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller said the “totally unacceptable” attack was an attempt to ruin Pakistan’s relations with the West.
“I of course condemn this attack. It is terrible that terrorists commit such acts,” Moeller told Danish TV2 News after calling an emergency meeting of his cabinet following the attack.
One Pakistani cleaner employed by the embassy was killed and three other local employees were wounded, he said. The embassy’s four Danish staffers, including the charge d’affaires, were unhurt, he added.
He also warned Danes against all travel to Pakistan. Denmark previously cautioned its nationals against unnecessary trips to the country.
In April, Denmark moved embassy staff in Algeria and Afghanistan to secret locations due to threats. The country also has about 550 troops stationed in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province.
Norway temporarily closed its embassy in Islamabad on Monday after the attack, foreign ministry spokesman Tor-Henrik Andersen told AFP in Oslo.
Officials from the nearby Netherlands embassy said their staff were unhurt.
Ambulances rushed away carrying casualties including a security guard covered in blood, and police sealed off the area. Several trees near the scene were also ablaze.
“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 Mohammad Dilshad, who lives close by.
Mohammad Salim, a worker at the development agency, the UN-backed Devolution Trust for Community Development, told AFP he arrived at his office seconds after the explosion.
“I heard cries for help. I saw five people on the street lying on the ground in a pool of blood. I got to the first injured and thought he was dead but he was still breathing. We put him in a car and sent him to hospital,” he added.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Monday’s attack 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.
Pakistani Taliban movement spokesman Maulvi Omar said he had “no knowledge” about the blast.