/ 2 June 2008

Islamic bloc condemns anti-Danish attack in Pakistan

The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) condemned on Monday a suicide bombing against the Danish embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, saying it flouted Islamic tenets.

OIC secretary general Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu was “deeply upset by this violent and extremist act”, the 57-nation bloc said in a statement.

“Islam rejects violence and terrorism in all its forms,” the statement quoted Ihsanoglu as saying after the suicide bombing outside the Danish embassy killed eight people and wounded 27 in what was seen as a new reprisal for the publication by Danish newspapers of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

Ihsanoglu expressed sympathy for the victims’ families.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack but officials said it was probably linked to the furore over the Mohummad sketches, which Danish newspapers first published in 2005 and then reprinted in February. — AFP