Bomb Blast in Islamabad Targets Foreigners

Islamabad, Pakistan. 8:40 pm. 15 March 2008.

At around 8:40 pm this balmy evening in Islamabad, Pakistan, the calm of Pakistan's bucolic capital was shattered by a bomb blast. The site was Luna Caprese, a restaurant situation in Islamabad's posh F-6 sector, that is a haunt of the Pakistani capital's sizable diplomatic and foreign community. The explosive device was apparently placed under a table in the back lawn where several patrons were seated. Most of the destruction was caused in the lawn area and the back wall fell outwards.

Eyewitnesses at a commercial market across the road from the restaurant report a loud blast that reverberated through the night, though there was no smell of gunpowder or any other effluent. Over a hundred on-lookers congregated around the entrance to the restaurant within minutes of the blast as policemen tried to herd the crowd away.

Ten people, mostly foreigners that included Americans, Britons and Japanese, are reported hurt and one person was reported killed. There were forty two people present in the restaurant at the time of the blast including twenty two customers. Ambualances arrived at the scene soon after and the wounded were taken to nearby Federal Services Hospital and the PIMS Hospital. Some wounded were also taken to clinics within foreign missions at their request.

While this terrorist attack targetted foreigners, most such attacks target Pakistani natives; over the last few years, several thousands have been killed as well as a handful of foreigners. This was the first attack on a private restaurant though a suicide bomber exploded himself at the exterior gate of the Islamabad Marriot Hotel last year.

Most Pakistanis believe that these attacks are the price Pakisan is forced to pay for its "Key Ally" and "Front-line" State role in the Bush Administration's "War on Terror." With a recent successfully-concluded parliamentary election and the imminent ushering in of a new democratic Government, there is wide spread optimism in Pakistan that the problem of terrorism will be dealt with more effectively in the future. People here also hope that a new administration in the USA following elections this year, will follow a more balanced and nuanced foreign policy.