Just hours after Pakistan's new President Asif Ali Zardari promised in his inaugural address to stamp out terrorism and extremism, militants answered with a bloody attack in his capital. A massive truck bomb at the gates of the Marriott Hotel, located in the heart of Islamabad close to parliament and other government buildings, killed at least 50 people and wounded some 200, leaving a 30-foot crater and destroying much of the hotel frequented by foreigners and well-to-do locals. It was the largest bomb to ever hit the city, with police estimating its payload at more than 2,200 pounds of explosives.
According to eyewitnesses, a large truck pulled up at the gates of the hotel at 8 p.m. local time, when many people inside the hotel were finishing their iftar meal to break the day's Ramadan fast. "The suicide bomber tried to enter from the main gate and blew up his truck," Sadruddin Hashwani, the hotel's owner, told reporters outside the hotel shortly after the attack. "Gas pipelines exploded because of the blast, causing the fire. Some people are still stuck, and we're trying to evacuate them."
The casualties included Ivo Zdarek, the Czech Republic's ambassador to Pakistan, and Dawn News TV, a local English-language channel, also reported that three Americans and a Danish diplomat were also killed â?? although this was not confirmed by the U.S. embassy. A number of security personnel and hotel staff who had reportedly tried to stop the truck were also killed in the blast.The death toll is expected to rise, with the severely wounded including 10 foreigners from Germany, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and Afghanistan. The landmark hotel is favored by foreign businessmen and government officials. Foreigners have been attacked twice before in Islamabad this year, when a small bomb killed one woman at an Italian restaurant, and al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for a subsequent attack on the Danish embassy.
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