World : Library Bombing Linked to ‘Verses’

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A bomb went off today at the British Council Library, tearing a two-foot hole in the roof. A library official linked the blast to Muslim outrage over Salman Rushdie’s novel “The Satanic Verses.”

No one was injured. All 12 employees had left the building at the time of the explosion, which occurred shortly before 9 p.m. Abdul Haq, a library official, said the library had no warning of the attack. However, he noted that British establishments have been on alert because of threats against Rushdie. “We were always thinking of a mob attack,” Haq said. “We never thought of a bomb blast.”