Pakistan: Marriott Hotel in Islamabad bombed
The Marriot Hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan has been bombed. At least 40 people are dead and twenty-five injured.
The explosion, believed to be a car or truck bomb, occured at 8 p.m. (10 a.m. ET), just hours after newly elected President Asif Ali Zardari addressed Parliament and promised to destroy terrorism in the country.
It is thought that more than a ton of explosives were used in the blast, which left a crater 30 feet deep and triggered a gas leak which sent the hotel up in flames. It is feared that the death toll may go much higher in what is one of the worst terror attacks in Pakistan’s history.
The Marriot is a popular place for foreigners to stay and the most prominent US-owned enterprise in the city, despite a wave of violence in the area. In January 2007, a security guard was killed and several people injured after the guard blocked a bomber from getting at the hotel, forcing him to detonate his explosives where he was.
Ambulances have rushed to the scene of today’s explosion, where rescuers ferry away the dead. Dozens of vehicles have been skeletonised, and trees nearby have been felled. Buildings hundreds of meters away have had their windows shattered. Witnesses, including a security guard, described a large truck approaching the building immediatly before the explosion. The explosion was heard 30km (18 miles) away in Rawalpindi.
No-one has yet claimed responsibility for the bombing.
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