Pakistan Police Say They Foiled Attack

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Four days after a car bomb attack on the Danish Embassy in Islamabad killed at least six people, Pakistani authorities said Friday that they had foiled a new onslaught when police intercepted three vehicles laden with a ton of explosives and arrested three alleged suicide bombers. The arrests came during a security alert Thursday following the attack Monday when a car bomb detonated outside the Danish Embassy. Responsibility for that attack was claimed Thursday by an Al Qaeda operative in Afghanistan as vengeance for the publication in Danish newspapers of cartoons caricaturing the Prophet Muhammad. Rahman Malik, a senior government adviser, told reporters on Friday that, in two operations late Thursday, six people were arrested — three of them alleged by the police to be potential suicide bombers. In the second episode, police detained four people in three vehicles — two Toyota Land Cruisers and a Toyota Corolla car. The Land Cruisers were each carrying 500 kilograms of explosives. Two Pakistani television stations reported that the explosives were destined for an attack on the presidential campus in Rawalpindi, the residence of President Pervez Musharraf. Islamabad and Rawalpindi are twin cities just a few miles apart. Mr. Malik said Thursday’s security “red alert” in the area had been triggered by inquiries into Monday’s attack on the Danish mission. That attack spread consternation among some diplomats. Reuters reported that diplomats from the Netherlands had moved into a heavily guarded hotel, fearing an attack in response to a Dutch movie by an anti-Islam Dutch politician, Geert Wilders. Reuters said security in the capital was tightest along Constitution Avenue, the broad boulevard leading to the presidency building, the National Assembly, the Supreme Court, various ministries and the diplomatic enclave where many embassies are located. Concrete barriers were placed across Constitution Avenue , and regular entry points to the enclave were closed, while razor wire was laid around the perimeter of key buildings, Reuters reported. Pir Zubair Shah reported from Islamabad and Alan Cowell from Paris.