DANISH EMBASSY BOMBED

ISLAMABAD: A suspected suicide car bombing outside the Danish embassy in the Pakistani capital Islamabad on Monday killed at least eight people and wounded several others, state television said.

The blast left a huge crater outside the embassy, damaging the building and a nearby development agency. Several cars were destroyed by the force of the explosion and some were on fire, an AFP reporter said.

Denmark had downgraded the embassy and moved out most foreign staff in recent months due to threats linked to a row over the reproduction in February of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in Danish media, diplomatic sources said.

Government-run Pakistan television said at least eight people were killed in the blast and several more injured. Other channels showed smoke rising above the scene.

"It was a vehicle-borne explosive device, apparently a suicide attack," a senior security official told AFP. He said the dead included two policemen stationed outside the embassy...CNA