Copenhagen - A bombing believed to have claimed at least six
lives outside the Danish embassy in Pakistan on Monday was condemned
by Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
The Danish Foreign Ministry on Monday evening confirmed that a
Danish national was killed in the blast in Islamabad, but said the
victim was not an embassy employee.
Rasmussen said it was a 'cowardly attack' and 'strongly condemned'
it, but he did not know who had carried out the attack or its motive.
The Danish premier said Pakistani authorities, including President
Pervez Musharraf, had conveyed condolences to Denmark, and he had
conveyed Copenhagen's condolences and offered Danish assistance to
the victims of the bombing.
'Denmark will not give in to terrorists,' Rasmussen told reporters
at the premier's official summer residence Marienborg, saying
security had been raised against the backdrop of earlier threats.
Earlier, Foreign Minister Per Stig Moller said that a Pakistan
national employed by the embassy was one of the dead.
Moller told reporters the Foreign Ministry did not know who
committed the attack, but Copenhagen was in 'close contact' with
Pakistani authorities and a full investigation was under way.
The head of the Danish security and intelligence service (PET),
Jakob Scharf, said the agency was cooperating with Danish military
intelligence and the Foreign Ministry.
In April, the PET raised its terrorist alert, citing threats in
regions where 'militant extremist groups' were active, including
Pakistan and Afghanistan, North Africa and the Middle East.
Moller said the attack was aimed at 'harming relations between
Pakistan and the West.'
He noted that al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had called for
attacks on Denmark over the publication of controversial cartoons of
the Muslim Prophet Mohammed and militant groups were angered that
Danish troops served in ISAF operations in Afghanistan.
The Danish foreign minister earlier said three other Pakistani
nationals employed by the embassy were injured in the blast, 'one
seriously.'
Moller said the bombing was 'completely unacceptable.'
A crisis team was heading for Islamabad he said, and meanwhile the
Foreign Ministry was reviewing security measures at Danish embassies
around the world.
The Foreign Ministry urged Danes to avoid all trips to the south
Asian nation in a revised travel advisory. Danish nationals in the
country were advised to be on the alert and the embassy has been
closed until further notice.
Nordic neighbours Norway and Sweden also closed their embassies in
Islamabad and urged their nationals to be on the alert.
In February, Danish security police said they foiled a plan to
murder newspaper cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, who drew a
controversial cartoon depicting the Prophet Mohammed wearing a bomb
as a turban.
The cartoon was one of 12 images published in September 2005 by
the Jyllands-Posten newspaper. The cartoons sparked violent protests
in 2006, and Danish companies were boycotted in many Muslim
countries.
Leading Danish newspapers republished the cartoons after the
alleged plot was disclosed, saying the move was to protect freedom of
speech. That publication sparked new protests.
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