The Danish Prime Minister has called a car bomb that killed at least six people and wounded 30 others outside the Danish embassy in Pakistan this morning, an "attack against Denmark" .

It is not clear who carried out the bombing but it could be linked to the ongoing controversy surrounding cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad wearing a bomb in place of a turban, which were printed in a Danish newspaper in 2005.

No Danish citizens were injured by the bomb when it exploded, Per Stig Moeller, the Danish foreign minister said, but one Pakistani employee at the embassy died at the scene. “The four Danish nationals, three expatriate diplomats and a Danish employee living in Pakistan, were not injured in the attack,” Moeller said. One Pakistani cleaner working at the embassy was killed and three other Pakistani employees were injured, he added.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Denmark's Prime Minister said he considers the blast “an attack against Denmark,” but added that “Denmark will not alter its (foreign) policy because of a terror attack.”

Mr Moeller warned Danes not to travel to the country after the blast. “We have changed our travel recommendations for Pakistan,” he told reporters. Denmark previously cautioned its citizens against unnecessary travel to Pakistan but the new recommendation involves all trips to the country, Moeller said.

Denmark had recently removed most foreign staff from its embassy in Islamabad, transferring them to secret locations in Afghanistan and Algeria after threats linked to republication of the cartoons in February this year. Ayman al-Zawahi, Al-Qaeda's number two, recently called for attacks on Danish targets over the cartoons. The suicide attack came amid efforts by Pakistan’s new government to strike peace deals with militants in its regions bordering Afghanistan, a pursuit eyed warily by the U.S.

Pakistani officials condemned the blast but indicated they did not want to stop the talks. “There is no question of any impact of this incident on the peace process, but of course it badly harmed our image in the world,” said Rehman Malik, the Interior Ministry chief.

The government has insisted it is not talking to “terrorists; but rather militants willing to lay down their weapons".

Pakistan's foreign secretary Salman Bashir said Pakistan would do all it could to safeguard foreign diplomatic missions. “I think the Pakistani nation feels very ashamed today on incidents such as these."

The blast in the Pakistan capital left a huge crater a metre deep in front of the embassy building, which was badly damaged by the explosion when it took place at midday (0600 GMT). It was the first such attack in the city for over two months and put an end to a period of relative calm after Pakistan’s main militant group recently declared a ceasefire.

Mr Moeller denounced the attack as “totally unacceptable” and called an emergency ministerial meeting following the blast.

“I condemn this attack. It is terrible that terrorists commit such acts,” Moeller told Danish TV2 News.

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