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A deadly bomb blast on Monday outside the Danish embassy in the Pakistani capital Islamabad left 8 people dead and at least 30 injured. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast. Injured people are rushed to hospitals and police sealed off the area.

The bomb was reported to be placed in a car parked outside the building. The blast damaged the building of Danish Embassy and a nearby development agency. Many cars parked near the car bombing site were destroyed with the explosion and left a huge crater outside the embassy. Several trees near the scene were also ablaze.  The explosion was so fierce that it damaged the windows of the houses many kilometers away.

The residence of Indian High Commissioner is also located in the same area but at some distance from the site of blast.

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.

“It was a suicide attack carried out in a vehicle, apparently targeting the Denmark embassy,” a senior Pakistani security official said.

A worker at the development agency, the UN-backed Devolution Trust for Community Development, said he arrived at his office seconds after the explosion.

“I saw blood and smoke and the trees were burning and debris was in the air settling down. Our building looked like it had been destroyed,” Mohammad Salim said.

“I heard cries for help. I saw five people on the street lying on the ground in a pool of blood. I got to the first injured and thought he was dead but he was still breathing. We put him in a car and sent him to hospital,” he added.

Pakistan has experienced a lull in suicide attacks since a new government came to power in March and began peace talks with Taliban militants based in Pakistan’s tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

Earlier on March 15 a bomb blast at an Italian restaurant frequented by foreigners killed a Turkish woman and wounded 10 foreigners, including four US FBI staff.

Tags: bomb blast, Islamabad, Pakistan, Terror Attack

India and Pakistan would exchange the lists of prisoners languishing in each other’s jails on Monday in New Delhi and Islamabad. There are 372 Indian fishermen and around 99 other Indians in Pakistani jails as told by Indian Government.

A committee of retired judges was set up to look into the issue of prisoners from the two countries last year, which held its first meeting in February in New Delhi. The committee recommended the release of prisoners who have been detained for “petty offenses” and directed the officials of both the countries to exchange the lists before its next meeting in Islamabad in mid-April.

The committee members have also decided that the Indian chapter of their committee would visit jails in Pakistan in April.

Earlier this month, Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee had said that a new consular agreement was also being finalized between the two countries to ensure an expeditious release of prisoners and provision of consular access for them.

The list will be exchanged through the high commissions of both countries in New Delhi and Islamabad.

Tags: India, Islamabad, New Delhi, Pakistan