ISLAMABAD—A suicide truck bomber attacked the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad on Saturday, killing at least 40 people, wounding nearly 250 and starting a fire that swept through the building in the Pakistani capital.
The explosion came hours after new President Asif Ali Zardari, widower of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, made his first address to parliament a few hundred meters away, calling for terrorism to be rooted out.
As flames engulfed the tightly guarded hotel, which is popular with foreigners, diplomats and rich Pakistanis, police said there were still people trapped inside.
"A car laden with explosives rammed the gate at the Marriott and so far we have brought out 40 dead bodies, but the number could well be higher," police chief Asghar Raza Gardazi said.
Vital to the war against al Qaeda and other Islamist militant groups, Pakistan's internal security has deteriorated at an alarming rate over the past two years.
The army is in the midst of a major offensive against al Qaeda and Taliban fighters in the Bajaur region on the Afghan border, while the U.S. military has intensified missile strikes against militants in the ethnic Pashtun tribal lands, infuriating many Pakistanis.
Militants have set off a launched a string of bombs attacks, most on security forces in the northwest, in retaliation for the attacks on them.
"They're giving a very clear, unambiguous message that if the government pursues these policies, this is what we will do in response," Talat Masood, a retired general and defense analyst, said after Saturday's attack.
20-Foot Crater
Saturday's attack was the worst in the capital, and came six months after a civilian government took power, and a month after it forced former army chief and firm U.S. ally Pervez Musharraf to step down as president.
A crater up to 20 feet deep was carved into the road in front of the hotel's security barriers. The Interior Ministry said the bomb probably contained more than 500 kg (1,100 lb) of explosives.
The Interior Ministry said two foreigners were killed and hospital officials said at least five were wounded, including a Danish diplomat, the Danish Foreign Ministry said. Up to six Saudi Arabians were missing, the Saudi ambassador said.
Flames and smoke poured out of the 290-room, city centre hotel, which has been bombed twice before. Dozens of cars were destroyed and windows were shattered in buildings hundreds of meters (yards) away.
A wounded hotel security official said a truck had been stopped at the hotel's front security barrier and two small explosions had gone off minutes before the main blast.
"There was a warning from security, they told us to go to the back of the hotel," Clemens Steinkanp, a German who was slightly wounded in the blast, said from a hospital bed.
"Nothing happened for five minutes ... but then there was a huge blast. Everything fell and there were a lot of bodies around," he said.
The Interior Ministry said 236 people had been wounded.
The British embassy said all staff had been accounted for. A U.S. embassy spokesman said preliminary reports indicated all U.S. diplomats had been accounted for.
U.S. Condemnation
Zardari is close to the United States and has vowed to maintain nuclear-armed Pakistan's commitment to the U.S.-led campaign against militancy, even though it is deeply unpopular.
The White House condemned the attack. "The United States will stand with Pakistan's democratically elected government as they confront this challenge," spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.
The explosion brought down the ceiling in a banquet room where up to 300 people were at a meal to break the fast during the holy month of Ramadan.
A waiter, Mansoor Abbasi, was inside the hotel after the blast, calling out for survivors in the rubble.
"I was just setting down a glass when it happened ... Everybody started screaming. I pulled out 16 wounded people," said Abbasi, his jacket stained with blood.
The owner of the hotel, one of two five-star hotels in the capital, said the truck had been stopped at the front barrier and guards on the gate exchanged fire with the attacker.
"Some shots were fired. One of our guards fired back, and in the meantime he detonated all the explosives. All the guards on the gate died," said hotel owner Sadruddin Hashwani.
In his address to parliament, Zardari said Pakistan must stop militants from using its territory for attacks on other countries. He also said Pakistan would not tolerate infringement of its territory in the name of the fight against militancy.
Zardari, who won a presidential election this month, condemned the attack and appealed the public to remain calm. He is due to leave for the United States on Sunday, where he will hold talks with Bush.
