North West Frontier Province Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain told The Associated Press early Wednesday that officials were reporting 11 deaths in the blast. Other police and government officials could confirm only five dead.
A reporter saw six wounded foreigners being helped out of the Pearl.
Police and hospital workers move the body of a dead foreign man into an ambulance from a hospital in Pakistan's northwestern city Peshawar on June 10, 2009. [Agencies]
The UN identified a staff member as among the dead: Aleksandar Vorkapic, 44, an information technology specialist from Belgrade, Serbia, who was part of an emergency team from the office of UN High Commissioner for Refugees helping with the crisis.
Also killed was UNICEF staffer Perseveranda So, 52, from the Philippines, who had been working on educational programs for girls, the children's agency said.
Peshawar district coordination officer Sahibzada Anis said the blast wounded three others working for the UN agency -- a Briton, a Somali and a German.
Amjad Jamal, spokesman for the World Food Program in Pakistan, said more than 25 UN workers were staying at the hotel. He said all seven WFP workers were safe.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the "heinous terrorist attack" in "the strongest possible terms," UN deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said at UN headquarters in New York.
"Once again, a dedicated staff member of the United Nations is among the victims of a heinous terrorist attack which no cause can justify," Okabe said.
She said Ban was "saddened by the large numbers of dead and wounded" and extends his condolences to the families of the victims and to the government and people of Pakistan.
Dr. Khizar Hayat at Lady Reading Hospital said the hospital received some 70 wounded people, with at least nine in critical condition.
Farahnaz Ispahani, spokeswoman for President Asif Ali Zardari and the ruling party, condemned the attackers.
"We will not be cowed by these people," she said. "We will root them out, we will fight them and we will win. This is Pakistan's unity and integrity that is at stake."
The military offensive in Swat and surrounding districts began in late April, and officials have blamed a handful of suicide attacks on Taliban attempts to seek revenge.