Danish attack 'linked to cartoons'

2008-06-03 12:15

Islamabad - Pakistani officials said on Tuesday an attack on the Danish embassy was likely a one-off linked to cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed and will not impact the new government's talks with the Taliban.

Investigators believe Taliban militants based in a tribal region on the Afghan border were responsible for Monday's suicide attack, which killed at least six people including a Danish national, a government official said.

Police have found skull fragments at the scene which confirm that the bombing was a suicide attack, a tactic favoured by Taliban rebels who have been blamed for a wave of blasts in Pakistan in the past year, officials said.

But the senior government official told AFP on condition of anonymity: "It appears to be a one-off attack which has little relevance to the ongoing negotiations between Taliban and the authorities."

Peace talks

Pakistani Taliban militants agreed to peace talks with the government after parties allied to US-backed anti-terror ally President Pervez Musharraf were trounced in elections in February.

The United States, Nato and Afghanistan have all expressed doubts over the talks.

"This attack was not born out of the events in the country or the region, rather it was part of global outrage in the Islamic world against publishing blasphemous cartoons," the official said.

Danish newspapers first published the cartoons in 2005, sparking violent protests in Pakistan and other Muslim countries. Several dailies reprinted the sketches in February this year.

Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda extremist network has made recent calls for attacks on Danish targets because of the cartoons.

- AFP