A suicide bomber blew up a car outside the Danish embassy in the Pakistani capital Islamabad yesterday, killing at least six people and wounding nearly 30 others, state media and officials said.
There was no claim of responsibility for the massive blast, but officials said it was likely linked to the furor over cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed, which were printed by Danish newspapers.
The bomb badly damaged the mission and a nearby UN agency and left a huge crater in the road. Dozens of cars were wrecked by the force of the blast, a reporter said.
PHOTO: AFP
“It was a suicide attack carried out in a vehicle, apparently targeting the Denmark embassy,” a senior security official said.
Pakistani Interior Secretary Kamal Shah told reporters that a possible link to the row over the cartoons, which were first printed in 2005 and again by Danish papers in February, “will be part of the investigation.”
Government-run television and the state news agency said eight people died. Shah said at least six were killed, including two policemen stationed at the embassy, and 27 wounded.
Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller said the “totally unacceptable” attack was an attempt to ruin Pakistan’s ties with the West. He warned Danes against all travel to Pakistan.
He said that a Pakistani cleaner employed at the embassy died and three other local employees were hurt, but the embassy’s four Danish staffers, including the charge d’affaires, were unharmed.
“I of course condemn this attack. It is terrible that terrorists commit such acts,” Moeller told Danish television. “The aim is simply to ruin Pakistanis’ relations with countries like Denmark.”
Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri have both called for attacks on Danish targets because of the cartoons.
Denmark recently downgraded the embassy and moved out most foreign staff because of threats linked to the furor, diplomatic sources said. In April, Denmark moved embassy staff in Algeria and Afghanistan to secret locations.
The Danish embassy in Islamabad, which is located outside a secure enclave that houses most foreign missions, also shut down briefly in February 2006 because of the cartoon controversy.
Pakistani Taliban movement spokesman Maulvi Omar said he had “no knowledge” of the blast.
“I have no information, I am not in a position to immediately comment. I cannot say who is responsible for this,” Omar said by telephone from an unknown location.
Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament. Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year. Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
The government is considering polices to increase rental subsidies for people living in social housing who get married and have children, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During an interview with the Plain Law Movement (法律白話文) podcast, Cho said that housing prices cannot be brought down overnight without affecting banks and mortgages. Therefore, the government is focusing on providing more aid for young people by taking 3 to 5 percent of urban renewal projects and zone expropriations and using that land for social housing, he said. Single people living in social housing who get married and become parents could obtain 50 percent more
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
RSS