Bomb Explodes Outside Danish Embassy in Pakistan

A car bomb exploded outside the Danish embassy in Islamabad killing 8 and injuring up to 30. Times Online

A suicide car bomb outside the Danish embassy in Pakistan killed at least eight people and wounded 30 others this morning.

It is not clear who carried out the attack but it could be linked to the ongoing controversy surrounding cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad wearing a bomb in place of a turban, which were printed in a Danish newspaper in 2005.

The Danish foreign minister Per Stig Moeller warned Danes not to travel to the country after the blast. “We have changed our travel recommendations for Pakistan,” he told reporters. Denmark previously cautioned its citizens against unnecessary travel to Pakistan but the new recommendation involves all trips to the country, Moeller said.

....

Denmark had recently removed most foreign staff from its embassy in Islamabad, transferring them to secret locations in Afghanistan and Algeria after threats linked to republication of the cartoons in February this year. Ayman al-Zawahi, Al-Qaeda's number two, recently called for attacks on Danish targets over the cartoons. The suicide attack came amid efforts by Pakistan’s new government to strike peace deals with militants in its regions bordering Afghanistan, a pursuit eyed warily by the U.S.

Pakistani officials condemned the blast but indicated they did not want to stop the talks. The government has insisted it is not talking to “terrorists; but rather militants willing to lay down their weapons".

Yeaaaaaah right