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WORLD> Asia-Pacific
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Truck bomb guts Pakistan Marriott, at least 53 dead
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-09-21 09:02 ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Pakistan's prime minister says the death toll from the huge truck bombing of a luxury hotel in Pakistan's capital has reached about 53. More than 250 people were injured, including at least 21 foreigners, when a huge suicide truck bomb devastated the heavily guarded Marriott Hotel in Pakistan's capital Saturday.
Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani updated the toll after rescuers found more bodies in the charred shell of the Islamabad Marriott. Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik said the Czech ambassador to Pakistan was also among the dead. One American citizen has also been confirmed dead. The blast on Saturday evening shredded the hotel and triggered a fire that raged for hours through the building. The blast left a vast crater some 30 feet (10 meters) deep in front of the main building. Rescuers ferried a stream of bloodied bodies from the gutted structure, then pulled back for fear that it could collapse. The fire was still burning at 2 a.m., six hours after the blast, sending up a thick pall of smoke over the area. The bombing at the upscale hotel appeared to be one of the largest terrorist attacks ever in Pakistan and came at a time of growing anger over a wave of cross-border strikes on militant bases by US forces in Afghanistan. The five-floor Marriott is a favorite place for foreigners as well as the Pakistani elite to stay and socialize, despite repeated militant attacks over the years. Hospital staff and other officials said the 250 injured included four Britons, four Germans and one each from the US, Denmark, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Libya, Lebanon and Afghanistan. The Saudi ambassador said several staff from the kingdom's national airline were missing. The bombing came just hours after President Asif Ali Zardari made his first address to Parliament, less than a mile (1.6 kilometers) away from the hotel. Zardari reappeared after midnight on state television to condemn the "cowardly attack." He said he understood the victims' pain because he had buried his own wife, assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, in December. "Make this pain your strength," he said. "This is a menace, a cancer in Pakistan that we will eliminate. We will not be scared of these cowards," he said. Law Minister Farooq Naek said the attack was Pakistan's 9/11. |
