Car Bomb Attack on Danish Embassy in Pakistan

Apparently making good on threats made in April by Al Qaeda's Ayman al-Zawahiri after the republication of the infamous Danish Motoons, a large car bomb blasted the Danish embassy in Islamabad, killing at least 5 people. Via AP:

The blast echoed through Islamabad and left a crater more than three feet deep in the road in front of the embassy. Shattered glass, fallen masonry and dozens of wrecked vehicles littered the area. A plume of smoke rose above the scene as people, some bloodied, ran back and forth in a state of panic.

The explosion appeared to be a car bomb, police officer Muhammad Ashraf said. Someone parked a car in front of the embassy and it exploded at around 1 p.m, he said.

Officials at two hospitals reported at least five people — including two policemen — were killed and 35 wounded in the blast.

Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller said the explosion killed a male Pakistani custodian at the embassy and seriously injured a handyman. Two office workers were also injured, Moeller said.

He condemned the attack as "totally unacceptable."

"It is terrible that terrorists do this. The embassy is there to have a cooperation between the Pakistani population and Denmark, and that means they are destroying that," Moeller told Denmark's TV2 News channel.

The Danish Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen called the bombing "an attack on Denmark," and said it would not force his country to change its foreign policy (via IHT):

"Denmark will not alter its policy because of a terror attack," he told reporters. "We will not give in to terrorists. We will maintain the foreign and security policy line we have been leading."

Earlier this year, Danish intelligence officials warned of an "aggravated" terror threat against Denmark after local newspapers reprinted a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban. Islamic law generally opposes any depiction of the prophet for fear it could lead to idolatry.

President Bush has condemned the attack, according to a White House spokesperson:

"We condemn the terrorist attack, there is no justification for it," she said. "The president has been briefed, he offers his condolences to victims of violence and their families."

Crossposted at The Jawa Report