By Masroor Gilani in Islamabad | September 21, 2008
THE streets outside Islamabad's Marriott Hotel were littered with bodies and burned-out vehicles today, while weeping survivors in blood-soaked clothes searched for friends and relatives.
An AFP photographer who reached the hotel minutes after a huge truck bombing heard cries for help from inside the burning building, where many people leapt to their deaths from upper floors trying to escape the flames.
The restaurants of the five-star establishment had been packed with Muslims breaking the daily Ramadan fast, and with foreigners who considered the hotel one of the few safe places to dine in the Pakistani capital.
"It was like the hotel collapsed, and the roof of the kitchen fell with a huge bang," said a stunned chef sitting among the debris, his white overalls stained red with blood.
"There were lot of people working in the kitchen and many customers in the restaurants, I don't know what happened to them."
A Polish man wearing just a pair of trousers and clutching his shirt in his hands said he was looking for five people who were with him at the hotel when the bomb went off.
Hotel staff set up a makeshift first aid post in the parking lot, as police commandos dressed in black began cordoning off the blast site.
Police said a suicide bomber detonated a truck full of explosives at the entrance to the hotel, killing at least 60 people and injuring more than 200.
Mohammad Jamil, who was walking past the hotel at the time, said the truck exploded in a fireball and sailed into the air. The force of the blast, which was heard for miles around, knocked him over.
"For a few seconds I was in shock and did not know what had happened. Then I remembered the deafening noise, and how the blast just tipped me over," he said.
A cloud of smoke swirled over the hotel in the centre of the city, giving off a noxious smell of burning plastic and wires. The blast could be heard across Islamabad, and its force knocked out windows of buildings hundreds of metres away.
Fire engines tried to douse the giant flames leaping from the glass facade of the hotel, and a fleet of ambulances ferried the injured to hospital.
"Get away from this place, the building may collapse any time," police officers shouted at people gathered in front of the burning building.
The hotel's owner, Sadruddin Hashwani, who was among the crowd, said he was heartbroken to see the loss of human life at his establishment.
"Allah gave me all this and I am not disturbed at the material loss, but I am really disturbed over the loss of innocent people's lives there," he said.
"Most of the people inside the hotel were there to earn livelihoods for their families."
Source: The Australian
Muslims Against Sharia condemn homicide bombing in Islamabad. We mourn the loss of innocent lives; our thoughts and prayers with victims of this atrocity and their families. May the homicide bomber rot in hell for eternity. May his accomplices join him soon.
THE streets outside Islamabad's Marriott Hotel were littered with bodies and burned-out vehicles today, while weeping survivors in blood-soaked clothes searched for friends and relatives.
An AFP photographer who reached the hotel minutes after a huge truck bombing heard cries for help from inside the burning building, where many people leapt to their deaths from upper floors trying to escape the flames.
The restaurants of the five-star establishment had been packed with Muslims breaking the daily Ramadan fast, and with foreigners who considered the hotel one of the few safe places to dine in the Pakistani capital.
"It was like the hotel collapsed, and the roof of the kitchen fell with a huge bang," said a stunned chef sitting among the debris, his white overalls stained red with blood.
"There were lot of people working in the kitchen and many customers in the restaurants, I don't know what happened to them."
A Polish man wearing just a pair of trousers and clutching his shirt in his hands said he was looking for five people who were with him at the hotel when the bomb went off.
Hotel staff set up a makeshift first aid post in the parking lot, as police commandos dressed in black began cordoning off the blast site.
Police said a suicide bomber detonated a truck full of explosives at the entrance to the hotel, killing at least 60 people and injuring more than 200.
Mohammad Jamil, who was walking past the hotel at the time, said the truck exploded in a fireball and sailed into the air. The force of the blast, which was heard for miles around, knocked him over.
"For a few seconds I was in shock and did not know what had happened. Then I remembered the deafening noise, and how the blast just tipped me over," he said.
A cloud of smoke swirled over the hotel in the centre of the city, giving off a noxious smell of burning plastic and wires. The blast could be heard across Islamabad, and its force knocked out windows of buildings hundreds of metres away.
Fire engines tried to douse the giant flames leaping from the glass facade of the hotel, and a fleet of ambulances ferried the injured to hospital.
"Get away from this place, the building may collapse any time," police officers shouted at people gathered in front of the burning building.
The hotel's owner, Sadruddin Hashwani, who was among the crowd, said he was heartbroken to see the loss of human life at his establishment.
"Allah gave me all this and I am not disturbed at the material loss, but I am really disturbed over the loss of innocent people's lives there," he said.
"Most of the people inside the hotel were there to earn livelihoods for their families."
Source: The Australian
Muslims Against Sharia condemn homicide bombing in Islamabad. We mourn the loss of innocent lives; our thoughts and prayers with victims of this atrocity and their families. May the homicide bomber rot in hell for eternity. May his accomplices join him soon.
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