Qatar yesterday condemned the bombing of the Danish embassy in Pakistan, describing it as a “terrorist act contravening ethical and human values”.
An official at the Foreign Ministry expressed condolences of Qatar to the families of the victims and the injured, renewing the state’s firm stance rejecting “all forms of terrorism regardless of its source”.
The suicide car bomb outside the embassy in Islamabad killed up to eight people, including a Danish citizen, in a possible new backlash over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, Pakistani officials said.
The massive blast also injured 27 people, damaged the mission and nearly destroyed a nearby UN agency. Dozens of cars were wrecked by the force of the explosion, which gouged a huge crater out of the road.
There was no claim of responsibility but officials said the attack was likely linked to the row over the cartoons, which Danish newspapers first published in 2005 and then reprinted in February.
Pakistan interior ministry chief Rehman Malik said the “dastardly” bombing “could be a reaction to blasphemous sketches published in Denmark” and pledged that the culprits would be caught.
The UN Security Council, denouncing the attack, stressed that all nations must co-operate with Pakistan “to bring perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors of this reprehensible act of terrorism to justice.”
- Agencies
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