ayzo
09-20-2008, 11:24 AM
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26803768
http://msnbcmedia1.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photo/_new/080920-marriott-hmed-8a.h2.jpg
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - A massive truck bomb ripped through part of the heavily guarded Marriott Hotel in Pakistan's capital Saturday, killing at least 40 and wounding many more. The death toll is expected to rise.
It was one of the biggest terrorist strikes in Pakistan history, said Ahmad Latif, a senior police official.
Senior police official Asghar Raza Gardaizi said he fears there are dozens more dead inside. He said that the Saturday blast, which reverberated throughout Islamabad, was caused by more than a ton of explosives.
The Marriott is a favorite place for foreigners to stay and socialize in Islamabad, and it has previously been targeted by militants.
The blast left a vast crater, some 30 feet deep in front of the main building, where flames poured from the windows and rescuers ferried a stream of bloodied bodies from the gutted building.
Flames poured from the windows of the hotel and rescuers ferried a stream of bloodied bodies from the gutted building.
Mohammad Sultan, a hotel employee, said he was in the lobby when something exploded, he fell down and everything temporarily went dark.
"I don't understand what it was, but it was like the world is finished," he said.
A security guard at the scene, Mohammad Nasir, said he saw a large truck that suddenly caught fire on its front before exploding. "It was a big bang," he said.
An Associated Press reporter counted at least nine bodies scattered at the scene. Scores of people, including foreigners, were running out — some of them stained with blood.
A Reuters witness said he could see fires in at least two places in the hotel and at least 20 cars parked on the street outside had been destroyed. Ceilings in the hotel lobby and dining area had collapsed, witnesses said.
Ambulances rushed to the area, where a fire burned, smoke hovered and the carcasses of vehicles were thrown about. Windows in buildings hundreds of yards away were shattered.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast.
But Pakistan, a U.S. ally in the war on terror, has faced a wave of militant violence in recent weeks following army-led offensives against insurgents in its border regions, though the capital has avoided most of the bloodshed.
At a hospital where many of the casualties were taken, official Raja Ejaz said at least two people had died and 25 were wounded.
In January 2007, a security guard blocked a suicide bomber who triggered a blast just outside the Marriott, killing the guard and wounding seven other people.
http://msnbcmedia1.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photo/_new/080920-marriott-hmed-8a.h2.jpg
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - A massive truck bomb ripped through part of the heavily guarded Marriott Hotel in Pakistan's capital Saturday, killing at least 40 and wounding many more. The death toll is expected to rise.
It was one of the biggest terrorist strikes in Pakistan history, said Ahmad Latif, a senior police official.
Senior police official Asghar Raza Gardaizi said he fears there are dozens more dead inside. He said that the Saturday blast, which reverberated throughout Islamabad, was caused by more than a ton of explosives.
The Marriott is a favorite place for foreigners to stay and socialize in Islamabad, and it has previously been targeted by militants.
The blast left a vast crater, some 30 feet deep in front of the main building, where flames poured from the windows and rescuers ferried a stream of bloodied bodies from the gutted building.
Flames poured from the windows of the hotel and rescuers ferried a stream of bloodied bodies from the gutted building.
Mohammad Sultan, a hotel employee, said he was in the lobby when something exploded, he fell down and everything temporarily went dark.
"I don't understand what it was, but it was like the world is finished," he said.
A security guard at the scene, Mohammad Nasir, said he saw a large truck that suddenly caught fire on its front before exploding. "It was a big bang," he said.
An Associated Press reporter counted at least nine bodies scattered at the scene. Scores of people, including foreigners, were running out — some of them stained with blood.
A Reuters witness said he could see fires in at least two places in the hotel and at least 20 cars parked on the street outside had been destroyed. Ceilings in the hotel lobby and dining area had collapsed, witnesses said.
Ambulances rushed to the area, where a fire burned, smoke hovered and the carcasses of vehicles were thrown about. Windows in buildings hundreds of yards away were shattered.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast.
But Pakistan, a U.S. ally in the war on terror, has faced a wave of militant violence in recent weeks following army-led offensives against insurgents in its border regions, though the capital has avoided most of the bloodshed.
At a hospital where many of the casualties were taken, official Raja Ejaz said at least two people had died and 25 were wounded.
In January 2007, a security guard blocked a suicide bomber who triggered a blast just outside the Marriott, killing the guard and wounding seven other people.