Powerful Bomb Blast as Explosive Laden Truck Rams Islamabad Hotel

It is being called Pakistan's 911 and is the most devastating terrorist attack in the country's history. At around 7 am PST, 2 pm GMT on Saturday 20 September, an explosive laden truck rammed into Islamabad's Marriott Hotel setting four floors ablaze and cracking the roof. Initial reports state that the main lobby roof may have collapsed as well. The Marriott was set alight with flames leaping from several floors. The roof of the adjoining Software Technology Park building collapsed. The street in front of the hotel represents a war scene and is littered with rubble, car chasis, uprooted trees and human limbs. Smoke and dust are everywhere. Several foreigners including Americans, Germans and Saudis were reported to be among the casualties. An estimated 500 kilograms or about 2400 pounds of explosives ripped a twenty foot crater into the ground. Observers are saying that this is the single most devastating man-made disaster in the history of Pakistan. It has wiped out an iconic landmark in the Pakistani capital -- the scene of countless weddings, get-togethers, board meetings, power breakfasts and Sunday family brunches.

The explosion shattered the windows of buildings in a wide radius and could be heard up to ten miles away in neighboring Rawalpindi. Other than the badly damaged Software Technology Park building next door, scene of an estimated 20 casualties, there are several other Government buidlings down the street including the office of Pakistan Television and several other Government offices.

The death count has crossed 60 and is rising. All the city's ambulances and fire engines have converged at the scene and a red alert has been declared in all hospitals.

Only a couple of hours before the blast, newly sworn in President Zardari had addressed a joint sitting of the parliament, diplomats and Government and Military officials less than a mile from the site of the explosion. Zardari had declared his intention to broaden and deepen Pakistan's relationship with the USA which has been urging Pakistan to take more forceful actions against militants at the risk of destabilizing the country.

No group has yet claimed responsiblity for the gruesome attack, but the initial speculation is that this is the handiwork of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) which has perpetrated a series of attacks in Pakistan over the last year including one in the neighboring city of Wah which killed over 70 laborers strolling out of an ordinance factory at the end of the morning shift. The Marriott explosion happened at a time of day when people breaking their Islamic fast were thronging the many restaurants located in the hotel. Both explosions occured at a time designed to cause maximum human casualties. A large number of Muslim leaders have condemned suicide bombing as anti-Islamic and a grotesque violation of basis Islamic tenets. Recently the Advisor to the Prime Minister on Interior, Mr. Rehman MalikRehman Malik, accused intelligence agencies of neighbouring countries to be behind the series of blasts in Pakistan. He said that impressionable impoverished youth were susceptible to indoctrination and brain washing by these foreign operatives who exploited Pakistan's war against terrorists to sow hatred in the hearts of militants against the Pakistani State.