Suicide bomb guts Pakistan Marriott hotel

Suicide bomb guts Pakistan Marriott hotel; 38 dead
Sunday, September 21, 2008 2:35:45 AM
By STEPHEN GRAHAM and NAHAL TOOSI
Suicide bomb guts Pakistan Marriott hotel; 38 dead

A suicide bomber detonated a dump truck packed with a ton of explosives outside the Marriott Hotel in Pakistan's capital Saturday, setting off a fiery blast that shattered the hotel, killed at least 38 people and wounded hundreds, officials and witnesses said.

The targeting of the American hotel chain was one of the largest terrorist attacks ever in Pakistan and came at a time of growing anger in Pakistan over a wave of cross-border strikes on militant bases by U.S. forces in Afghanistan. At least one American was killed.

The five-story Marriott had been a favorite place for foreigners as well as Pakistani politicians and business
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Suicide bomb guts Pakistan Marriott hotel; 38 dead
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people to stay and socialize in Islamabad despite repeated militant attacks on the hotel. The bomb went off close to 8 p.m., when four restaurants inside would have been packed with diners at the hour that Muslims break their daily fast during the holy month of Ramadan.

It left a vast crater some 30 feet deep in front of the building, where rescuers ferried a stream of bloodied bodies. The fire was still burning more than six hours after the blast and had gutted most of the hotel, sending up a thick pall of smoke over the area. The death toll was likely to rise once the fire was extinguished and rescuers could thoroughly search the devastated building.

The bombing came just hours after President Asif Ali Zardari made his first address to Parliament, less than a mile away from the hotel, and days ahead of the new leader's meeting with President Bush Tuesday in New York on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.

Rehman Malik, the head of the Interior Ministry, told The Associated Press it was unclear who was behind the attack and there had been no claim of responsibility. But authorities had received intelligence that there might be militant activity due to Zardari's address to Parliament and security had been tightened, he said.

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 which we will eliminate. We will not be scared of these cowards," he said.

Witnesses and officials said the dump truck exploded about 60 feet away from the hotel at two heavy metal barriers blocking the entrance. The location of the hotel made it vulnerable. It lies just off a busy thoroughfare, less than a mile from the presidential offices and Parliament. The security gate was well within the range of the blast wave