Pakistan blast kills eight, injures 28

Islamabad, Jun 2 (UNI) At least eight people were killed and 28 injured in a powerful explosion outside the Danish embassy situated in one of the most sensitive and posh areas here today.

Private TV channels reported that those killed in the blast also included a foreign national. However, it could not be immediately ascertained.

The blast, which took place in front of the main gate of abandoned Danish embassy building, was apparently caused by a bomb planted in a vehicle, local police officials said, adding that the explosive material weighed 25 kg.

The blast was so severe that it smashed windowpanes of nearby houses in the F-6 sector where a large number of foreign diplomats also reside.

Dozens of cars were completely damaged and trees uprooted and burnt in the blast.

Denmark had withdrawn its staff from the mission due to security threats early this year after re-publication of blasphemous cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in Danish newspapers, which triggered protests all over Pakistan.

Publication of cartoons for the first time in Danish and several other European newspapers in February 2006 led to violent protests in the country leaving at least five people dead.

Pakistan has been in the grip of a series of bomb blasts and suicide attacks since January 2007, which killed more than 1,000 people all over the country. However, a lull in the attacks, which came after the formation of the new government in March, broke with suicide attacks and blasts in northwestern Pakistan.

This was the second blast here since March 15 when an explosion at an Italian restaurant killed a Turkish woman and wounded several other foreigners.

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