A massive explosion of a car bomb shook the Danish Embassy in Pakistani capital.

The bomb explosion killed at least six people, wounded dozens more, and left a crater more than three feet deep in the road outside the embassy's main gate.

A perimeter wall of the embassy collapsed and its metal gate was blown inward, but the embassy building itself remained standing, though its windows were shattered.

The blast hit just weeks after an al-Qaida leader urged attacks against Denmark for newspaper caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri recently called for attacks on Danish targets in response to the publication of caricatures in Danish newspapers depicting the Prophet Muhammad.

Pakistani officials said at least six people — including two policemen — were killed and 35 people were wounded in the blast.

 

The bombing was the worst anti-Danish attack since the cartoons appeared in 2006.

"Denmark will not alter its policy because of a terror attack," Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters in Copenhagen. "We will not give in to terrorists."

The car bombing follows attacks by al-Qaida against the U.S. Embassy in Yemen in March and another on the Israeli Embassy in Mauritania in February, according to IntelCenter, a U.S. group that monitors al-Qaida messages.

The Norwegian and Swedish governments immediately closed their embassies. The homes of the Dutch ambassador, the Australian defense attache and the Indian ambassador, located near the Danish embassy, were damaged; No one was injured.

The U.S. Embassy urged Americans to use extra caution when traveling through Islamabad and to avoid the blast site.