A previously unknown group calling itself "Al-Qanoon" (law) has claimed responsibility for the car bomb blast near the U.S. consulate in the Pakistani port city of Karachi that killed 11 people.
"We accept the responsibility for the bomb blast near the American consulate today," a handwritten Urdu-language statement delivered to media offices in Karachi said.
"America, its allies and its slave Pakistani rulers should be prepared for more attacks. The bomb blast is the beginning of Al-Qanoon's jihadi (militant) activities in Pakistan," it said.
Syed Kamal Shah, police chief of Sindh province of which Karachi is the capital, said police had received a copy of the statement and were taking it seriously.
"For us this Al-Qanoon organisation is unknown. But as professionals we have to take this fax seriously and we will investigate."
At least eleven people were killed in a powerful car bomb attack on the US consulate in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi today, with six consular staff among dozens injured
"It was a car bomb... The blast was so powerful that the vehicle flew from one side of the road to the other side of the road," city police chief Tariq Jamil said. "It appears to be a suicide bomber."
A US embassy spokesman in Islamabad said six consulate employees including one American and five Pakistani staff "sustained minor injuries when struck by flying debris" but he could not confirm police reports that a guard was killed.
"Many windows in the consulate have been blown out and the building has sustained structural damage. The extent of that damage is not yet known," he said.
The attack came a day after US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld visited Pakistan on a mission to ease tensions with India, and a month after another Karachi car bombing that killed 11 French nationals travelling in a minibus.
Sindh province police chief Mr Syed Kamal Shah played down links between today's blast and the May car bombing at the Sheraton hotel which is believed to have been carried out by al-Qaeda.
"It was a different explosion from the one which took place on May 8th. In that incident the car hit the bus, but in this incident it was from a moving car. There is no similarity in the two incidents," he said.
However, a Western diplomat in Islamabad said it seemed obvious the incidents were connected.
"I think most probably there is some link between the two," he said.
"This is really a scenario which we had feared and which now has happened.
Mr Shah said two policemen posted outside the consulate were killed and other police sources said that the bomber and a woman victim were among the casualties.
A police source at the scene told said that eight bodies had been found.
Mr Shah said 40 people had been injured and staff at Karachi's Jinnah Hospital reported admitting 26 people in serious condition.
AFP