By Kamran Haider
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A suspected suicide bomber blew up acar outside the Danish embassy in the Pakistani capital onMonday killing six people and wounding about 20, police andhospital officials 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 cartoons.
There was no claim of responsibility but residents of theneighbourhood 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."
The blast, which came just after 1 p.m. (8 a.m. Britishtime), destroyed the embassy gate and damaged the front of thebuilding and vehicles in the compound in the upmarket districtof Islamabad where other missions and diplomats' houses arelocated.
Police and security officials said all of the dead andwounded were Pakistanis and the bomb was suspected to have beenset off by a suicide bomber in a car.
The blast left a crater about three feet (one metre) deepon the road outside the mission. A car engine was lying about30 feet (10 metres) from the crater.
The bomb caused extensive damage to nearby buildings andvehicles. A Pakistani guard lay dead at the gate while menhauled blood-drenched wounded into ambulances.
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 on Danish television station TV2 News.
"We already were working under a higher security level inPakistan ... It's dangerous," he said, adding Denmark wasreviewing security at all its embassies.
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 an Italian restaurant in Islamabad in Marchkilled a Turkish woman and wounded several other foreigners,including some U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation agents.
The new government has opened talks with militants throughintermediaries.
But the talks have raised questions in the United Statesand among some of Pakistan's other allies, who fear peace dealsin Pakistan will free up Taliban and al Qaeda militants tointensify their war against Western troops in Afghanistan.
The blast coincided with an anti-cartoon rally in the cityof Multan attended by about 200 people.
After hearing news of the blast, the 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)
