Al-Qaeda or an affiliate was "likely" behind a car bombing outside the Danish Embassy in Islamabad that killed six people including one Danish citizen, Denmark's intelligence service said. On Tuesday, Pakistani investigators searched through the rubble at the scene of the explosion, which came weeks after al-Qaeda threatened Denmark over published caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. Danish investigators were expected to join the probe. The Danish Security and Intelligence Service, known as PET, said in a statement late Monday that the embassy was the likely target. "It is PET's assessment that al-Qaeda or an al-Qaeda-related group likely is behind the attack," agency director Jakob Scharf said. He added that "a series of other militant Islamic groups and networks in Pakistan also could have the intention and the capacity to hit Danish targets in Pakistan."
They're all pretty much a part of the al-Qaeda tapestry, with the exception of the Baloch Liberation Army and maybe one or two others whose names don't readily spring to mind. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which I'd consider the most likely group has been pretty well merged into the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. Its current head is Baitullah Mehsud's right-hand turban. Jaish-e-Mohammad, at least in the western reaches of Pakistain, also seems to be folded in, as we saw in Swat the other day, and Harkat-ul-Mujaheddin al-Aalmi's been mostly subsumed into al-Qaeda itself.
The blast also comes as Pakistan seeks to deflect pressure to stop negotiating peace deals with militants in regions along the border with Afghanistan.
| Those militants, of course, being the guys we were just discussing. |