Dozens killed after bomber hits Pakistan tourist hotel

DOZENS of people have died after a massive truck bomb was detonated outside a luxury hotel in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, yesterday.

At least 40 deaths were reported, and officials said the toll from the attack on the Marriott could climb much higher.

The hotel is popular with foreign guests including businessmen, diplomats and journalists. The Foreign Office said last night that four Britons, including two children, were injured in the blast, while the BBC reported that one American was confirmed dead.

Another 10 foreigners – from Germany, Denmark, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Libya, Lebanon and Afghanistan – were also caught up in the deadly explosion, caused by more than 2,200lbs of explosives, according to police, while officials last night estimated the total injury toll to be around 250.

The explosives-laden vehicle was driven by a suicide bomber up to the hotel's security cordon at around 8pm, but although unable to get through, the impact of the blast shook the hotel to its core, bringing ceilings down on the guests inside.

As the building caught fire along its length, rescuers rushed inside to free guests trapped in the rubble and begin the task of removing the many bodies on stretchers and bed sheets. In the chaos and confusion, it was not known how many guests were trapped on the blazing upper floors.

Last night, Indian TV reported that a Taliban-linked group had claimed responsibility for the attack, which came just hours after Pakistan's new president, Asif Ali Zardari, had used his first speech to parliament to say that the country would not tolerate incursions on their territory to fight terrorism.

Witnesses said they saw the truck drive up to the security checkpoint and then explode. The blast left a crater 30ft deep in front of the main building and flames instantly poured from the windows. Seconds later, scores of people ran out, some of them covered in blood.

A US State Department official using a section of white pipe as a walking stick led three colleagues through the rubble from the charred building, one of them bleeding heavily from a wound on the side of his head.

One of the four, who identified himself only as Tony, said they had begun moving toward the rear of the Chinese restaurant after the first blast when the second one threw them against the back wall.

"We saw a big truck coming through the gates," he said. "After that it was just smoke and darkness."

Mohammad Sultan, a hotel employee, said he was in the lobby when there was an explosion which knocked him to the ground. "Everything went dark," he said. "I didn't understand what it was, but it was like the world was finished."

Ambulances rushed to the area, picking their way through charred vehicles that had been in the street outside. Windows in buildings hundreds of metres away were shattered.

TV producer Chaide O'Shea, who knows the hotel well, said: "This is a well-built hotel – built to earthquake standards and prepared for being a terror target, so that indicates the size of the explosion. Security at the hotel is a high priority and it's because of that so many foreigners are attracted to it, despite repeated militant attacks."

Last night, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said: "This latest bombing attack in Islamabad is yet another shocking and disgraceful attack without justification. Such an indiscriminate and brutal act of terror deserves the condemnation of the entire international community."

Leaders of Pakistan's civilian government, who have been vowing to continue and strengthen their country's seven-year alliance with the United States to combat terrorism and extremism, condemned the attack. "This is terrorism and we have to fight it together as a nation," Rehman Malik, the head of Pakistan's interior ministry, told reporters at a hospital overflowing with the wounded.

Yesterday, Zardari told parliament that the nation would not tolerate violations of its sovereignty by "any power" in the name of fighting terror, a clear signal to the US to avoid controversial cross-border strikes.

A series of suspected US missile attacks and an American-led ground assault in Pakistan's volatile northwest have angered Pakistanis in recent weeks. Zardari has faced criticism for not being more outspoken against the strikes. "We will not tolerate the violation of our sovereignty and territorial integrity by any power in the name of combating terrorism," Zardari told the lawmakers.

Mohammad Sarwar, the Glasgow Central MP, is a regular visitor to the Marriott. He said: "I am saddened and terrified by this atrocity and this tragedy. It saddens me especially when I think whenever I visit Islamabad I stay in the Marriott. This is shocking news and I think we – in Pakistan and Britain – must work against the evil people who wanted to take the lives of innocents.

Bashir Maan, a prominent figure in Scotland's Pakistani community, said: "This is the price we have paid for our friendship with the US and the West. It isn't worth it. America and Britain are creating more al-Qaeda and more extremism in the Islamic world because of their policies."