Pakistan's capital was on high alert and foreign embassies were scrutinizing security measures yesterday after a bomb exploded in an Italian restaurant crowded with foreigners, killing a Turkish aid worker and wounding 12 other people.
US and British embassy personnel were among the wounded in what appeared to be the first attack targeting foreigners in a recent wave of violence in Pakistan blamed on Islamic militants linked to al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
"Embassies are reviewing their security practices and the guidance they give to their employees," US embassy spokeswoman Kay Mayfield said yesterday.
US policy prohibits families of US diplomats from accompanying them on assignment in Pakistan, but most other countries allow it. A notice posted on the embassy's Web site late on Saturday urged Americans "to avoid areas where Westerners are known to congregate and to maintain a low profile."
"American citizens should stay alert, be aware of their surroundings, reduce travel to a minimum, and act self-defensively," it said.
Mayfield could not comment on whether the US was taking any additional measures such as sending home nonessential employees.
Concrete barriers lined streets yesterday in the upscale neighborhood around the Luna Caprese restaurant, a popular spot for expatriates in Islamabad. A dozen policemen stood guard outside the two-story villa in what was thought to be a secure neighborhood where diplomats and government officials live.
Police were on high alert, stepping up vehicle checks throughout the capital, a senior police officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to media.
Officials said the bomb was thrown over the wall or planted in the restaurant's garden, which had been crowded with diners. The restaurant had a single private security guard at its entrance, but none along its perimeter.
The Foreign Ministry said yesterday the dead Turkish woman worked for a foreign aid group. Police at the scene initially told reporters two people had died, but authorities later revised the toll to one.
A list of victims was posted in the reception of an Islamabad hospital. Five US citizens were listed as undergoing surgery. One Japanese citizen, one Canadian, one Briton and three Pakistanis also were wounded. Foreigners crowded around the list; some burst into tears.
"There were US embassy personnel among the injured. They are receiving medical treatment and their families are being notified," Mayfield said.
She was unable to confirm the number of personnel wounded or their nationalities.
The British Foreign Office reported that a staff member from the British High Commission had been "lightly injured" in the blast.
The man was being treated in a hospital, the office said.
Saturday's attack was the first in Pakistan's quiet capital in several months, and the first targeting foreigners here in more than a year.
In January last year, a security guard was killed and seven people injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a Marriott hotel near parliament.
The deadliest attack on expatriates in recent years was in 2002, when five people were killed, including two Americans, when suspected Islamic militants set off grenades at a church in Islamabad's heavily guarded diplomatic enclave.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
The pitch is a classic: A young celebrity with no climbing experience spends a year in hard training and scales Mount Everest, succeeding against some — if not all — odds. French YouTuber Ines Benazzouz, known as Inoxtag, brought the story to life with a two-hour-plus documentary about his year preparing for the ultimate challenge. The film, titled Kaizen, proved a smash hit on its release last weekend. Young fans queued around the block to get into a preview screening in Paris, with Inoxtag’s management on Monday saying the film had smashed the box office record for a special cinema