Pakistan: Islamic revenge bomb kills six at Danish Embassy

A massive car bomb planted in revenge for Denmark’s continued defiance in the Islamic cartoon row killed at least six people at its Pakistan embassy today.

It was the worst attack since Danish newspapers printed the caricatures of the prophet Mohammed two years ago.

Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen called the bombing “an attack against Denmark.”

But he said they would not be cowed by terrorists.

“Denmark will not alter its policy because of a terror attack. 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 Mohammed wearing a bomb-shaped turban. Islamic law generally opposes any depiction of the prophet for fear it could lead to idolatry.

The cartoon was one of 12 featuring the prophet – first published in Denmark - that sparked riots in the Muslim world in 2006. Mobs attacked Danish embassies in Lebanon, Syria and Iran to protest publication of the cartoons in European newspapers.

This year, Muslims staged peaceful protests in Pakistan over the cartoons. In April, Denmark briefly evacuated staff from its embassies in Algeria and Afghanistan because of terror threats related to the drawings.

Danish foreign minister Per Stig Moeller said the bomb killed an embassy cleaner and injured three other embassy workers, none of them Danes. He said the government did not know who was behind the blast.

Many in Denmark expressed concern that the attack was a response to the publication of the cartoons – or the deployment of Danish troops in Afghanistan.

“What has brought Denmark so much to the attention of people’s attention in that part of the world are the Mohammed cartoons,” said Lars Erslev Andersen, a terrorism expert at the University of Odense. “But that led to people’s attention being drawn to the fact that Denmark has had soldiers in Iraq and that Denmark is on the front in Afghanistan.”

Denmark withdrew its troops from Iraq last year but has more than 600 soldiers serving in Afghanistan.