The killed Christian man was identified as Aamir Masih, while another Christian believer, Riaz Masih, was among seriously injured persons, BosNewsLife learned.
Witnesses told BosNewsLife that the blast occurred when a white vehicle just outside the Danish Embassy’s parking lot detonated in the early afternoon Monday, June 2, killing up to eight people and injuring some 30 others. Two policemen were also among those killed.
The blast was tearing through the outer security walls, wrecking nearby vehicles and demolishing security posts of the Danish mission. It also littered the suburban street with debris and left a one-meter-deep crater in the asphalt.
WINDOWS SHATTERED
Windows were shattered and dozens of cars parked in the Danish Embassy’s parking lot and in the parking area of the adjacent building of the United Nation’s Development Program (UNDP) "were completely mangled and seen flying like toys," witnesses told BosNewsLife.
Local Christian sources with close knowledge about the situation said they were concerned that the militants behind Monday’s blast would also target a nearby Christian slum. Pakistani Christians have been accused by militants of following a "anti-Islamic" Western religion, and churches have been the target of attacks following an outcry over Danish cartoons.
The details emerged as the Press Trust of India agency reported that at least nine people died and 13 others were injured Tuesday, June 3, in two separate explosions that rocked different parts of Pakistan. Five persons were killed and six injured when an explosion occurred in the home of an Afghan refugee in the southwestern city of Quetta, PTI said.
No group claimed responsibility, adding to pressure on government investigators who were already probing Monday’s blast. An official from the Bomb Disposal Squad told BosNewsLife on condition of anonymity that the bomb near the Danish Embassy contained some 20 kilograms explosive material.
DANISH EMBASSY
The Danish Embassy said it had been receiving threatening notes for the some times, apparently in response the publication of what many Muslims consider as “blasphemous sketches.” Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen condemned the suicide bombing, saying the attack was “cowardly” and unjustifiable.
"Regardless of the motive (for this attack) and regardless of who committed it, this is a horrible, cowardly crime, which we condemn vehemently and for which there is no justification," Rasmussen told reporters in Copenhagen.
The Danish Foreign Ministry warned Danes against all travel to Pakistan after it previously cautioned its nationals to refrain from "unnecessary trips" to the country. The Pakistani government also condemned the suicide attack.
However the chief of advocacy group All Pakistan Minority Alliance (APMA), Shahbaz Bhatti, said Pakistani authorities should now provide "sufficient security at all the foreign embassies and religious minorities’ infrastructure, worship places and residential areas."
Earlier this weekend, officials from the Christian community and several other religions including Islam and Baha’i appealed against extremism at the ‘Symphony of Peace Prayer’ meeting at the United Christians Church Noori Gate in the town of Sargodha.
At the gathering, they prayed for "ecumenical peace, love and unity and abolition of interfaith intolerance, extremism, violence and disputes" by lighting up candles Sunday June 1, said the Rays of Development (ROD) organization, which was involved in organizing the event.
