Bomb kills 6 at Danish embassy in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A suspected suicide bomber blew up acar outside the Danish embassy in the Pakistani capital onMonday, killing six people and wounding 25, governmentofficials said.

The blast will raise fresh questions about the safety offoreigners in Pakistan, even though militant attacks havedropped off since a new government came to power after aFebruary general election vowing to negotiate to end violence.

Danish newspapers infuriated Muslims around the world whenthey published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad in late 2005.The cartoons, considered blasphemous by Muslims, sparked deadlyprotests and attacks on Danish missions.

The embassy in Islamabad was temporarily shut in 2006 afterviolent protests over the sketches.

There was no claim of responsibility and while it would bepremature to link the attack to the cartoons, one of which wasrecently reprinted in Danish newspapers, that possibility wasbeing investigated, said Interior Ministry secretary KamalShah.

While officials said it was a suspected suicide attack,investigators were picking through the debris in and around athree-foot (one metre) deep crater in the road outside themission to determine the cause.

"There's no doubt it was a car blast. It'd be premature tosay it was a suicide attack or remote-control," Shah toldreporters near the embassy in an upmarket district of Islamabadwhere other missions and diplomats' houses are located.

The blast, which came just after 1 p.m. (8:00 a.m. Britishtime), destroyed the embassy gate and damaged the front of thebuilding and vehicles in the compound. It also caused extensivedamage to nearby buildings and vehicles.

Police and security officials said all of the dead andwounded were Pakistanis.

A guard lay dead at the gate while men hauledblood-drenched wounded into ambulances. A car engine was lyingabout 30 feet (10 metres) from the crater.

Residents said they had feared an attack on the mission.

"Since the printing of cartoons, we always had this fear,"said Sana Khalid, a woman living in the area. "But what theydid to our religion, they deserve it."

Pakistan's main stock index ended higher in low volumedespite the blast and dealers said trade in the rupee, whichended for the day just after news of the blast, was notaffected.

"IT'S DANGEROUS"

Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moller condemned theattack, adding that a Pakistani employee of the embassy, acleaner, had been killed and three other Pakistani employeeswounded. No Danes died, he said.

"It's terrible that terrorists commit such acts," he saidin an interview with Danish television station TV2 News.Denmark was reviewing security at all its embassies, he said.

Windows were broken in the nearby home of the Indian HighCommissioner. Pakistani authorities said they were stepping upsecurity at embassies and police were on alert in other cities.

Pakistan went through a wave of suicide bombings in thesecond half of 2007 and early this year but most of the attackswere on the Pakistani security forces and politicians,including former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, killed in aDecember 27 attack.

Attacks on foreigners have been rare since several in 2002,but a blast at a restaurant in Islamabad in March killed aTurkish woman and wounded several other foreigners, includingsome U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation agents.

The new government has opened negotiations with militantsthrough intermediaries but the talks have raised questions inthe United States and among some of Pakistan's other allies,who fear peace deals will free up Taliban and al Qaedamilitants to intensify their war against Western troops inAfghanistan.

The blast coincided with an anti-cartoon rally in the cityof Multan attended by about 200 people.

After hearing news of the bomb, some protesters shouted"Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest).

"Whoever commits blasphemy against the Prophet Mohammadwill face more serious consequences than this," said citycleric Intizar Hussain. "If it is a suicide attack, thenwhoever did it will go to heaven."

(Additional reporting by Augustine Anthony, Asim Tanveerand Gelu Sulugiuc; Writing by Robert Birsel; Editing by JerryNorton)