Bruce Loudon, South Asia correspondent | September 22, 2008
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari vowed last night not to retreat from fighting terrorism, after at least 60 people were killed and more than 200 wounded when Islamabad's Marriott hotel was destroyed in a suicide attack described as Pakistan's 9/11.
The 600kg truck bomb that destroyed the 300-room hotel at the heart of the capital was believed to be the work of al-Qa'ida and the Taliban, working together to hit a target packed with foreigners, many of them Americans working in the military and on aid projects.
The bomb was detonated outside the US-owned hotel's main security gate at 8pm on Saturday (midnight AEST) just after sunset, when Muslims were attending the traditional Iftar dinner in the Marriott's banquet hall to end the daily Ramadan fast.
An eyewitness told The Australian soon afterwards that the crater caused by the explosion was "so large it looks as if it has been hit by a meteorite".
Mr Zardari sought to rally the spirits of his stunned nation as fears grew of a total onslaught by al-Qa'ida and Taliban militants determined to bring down the new democratic government. It is believed the President and the country's civilian and military leadership were the initial target of the attack.
"The Government and the people of Pakistan cannot be terrorised by blasts and such attacks," Mr Zardari said in a nationally televised address.
"If the cowards think they can terrorise the Government and the people of Pakistan, I state we shall not retreat from fighting terrorism. We will get rid of this terrorism cancer."
Rescuers were last night still pulling bodies from the wreckage of the place where Pakistan's most influential leaders regularly gathered. The dead included Czech ambassador Ivo Zdarek, who called his embassy moments after the bombing from inside the hotel asking to be rescued, but had not been heard from since.
Rescue teams searched the blackened hotel, room by room. But the temperatures remained high, and fires were still being put out last night. Officials said the main building could still collapse.
Many of the dead were guards manning the front gate. At least 21 foreigners were among the wounded, including Britons, Germans, Americans and several from the Middle East.
No Australians are believed to have been killed or wounded in the blast, but the Australian high commission is working with local authorities to determine if any were caught up in the attack.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Canberra was looking at how it could expand its efforts to help Pakistan's new Government fight terrorism, including the "possible provision of law-enforcement assistance, counter-insurgency training and technical assistance".
According to eyewitnesses, the truck, carrying building materials to disguise the bomb, pulled up at the heavy barrier that guarded the main entrance to the Marriott.
When sniffer dogs reacted, there was an altercation and the bomber detonated his deadly load. A fireball then raced through the hotel's main reception area and brought down the roof in the banquet hall at the back where the iftar dinner was being held. Within minutes, it had ignited a gas pipeline and much of the six-storey hotel was in flames.
There were scenes not unlike those seen in New York City during 9/11 as desperate guests jumped from windows as flames engulfed their rooms. At one point there were cries from bystanders who spotted two small children on the roof screaming for help. Before anyone could reach them, they were incinerated.
Security and intelligence sources said the attack was retaliation for the army offensive launched two months ago against Taliban and al-Qa'ida militants in the Bajaur Tribal Agency, part of the lawless districts on the Afghan border. It was also a strike at the new Government's perceived determination to do Washington's bidding in the war on terrorism.
"The Americans wanted Pakistan to launch a major operation against the militants and they've done that. In the past two months, Pakistan says, it has killed over 700 militants in Bajaur Agency many of them belonging to al-Qa'ida. This is clearly payback for that," a leading security analyst in Islamabad said last night.
Only last month, al-Qa'ida No2 Ayman al-Zawahiri accused Pakistan's new leaders of acting on behalf of the US and called on al-Qa'ida followers to rise up against them.
Security tsar Rehman Malik said that two days before the blast intelligence had been received that an attack on parliament was being prepared.
Massive security cordons were placed around the parliament. Dr Malik believed that "because of this, the truck bomb was barred to go towards the parliament house.
"It is our perception now that the terrorists had set two targets - one direct and the other optional. When they could not get to the parliament, they went to the Marriott."
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari vowed last night not to retreat from fighting terrorism, after at least 60 people were killed and more than 200 wounded when Islamabad's Marriott hotel was destroyed in a suicide attack described as Pakistan's 9/11.
The 600kg truck bomb that destroyed the 300-room hotel at the heart of the capital was believed to be the work of al-Qa'ida and the Taliban, working together to hit a target packed with foreigners, many of them Americans working in the military and on aid projects.
The bomb was detonated outside the US-owned hotel's main security gate at 8pm on Saturday (midnight AEST) just after sunset, when Muslims were attending the traditional Iftar dinner in the Marriott's banquet hall to end the daily Ramadan fast.
An eyewitness told The Australian soon afterwards that the crater caused by the explosion was "so large it looks as if it has been hit by a meteorite".
Mr Zardari sought to rally the spirits of his stunned nation as fears grew of a total onslaught by al-Qa'ida and Taliban militants determined to bring down the new democratic government. It is believed the President and the country's civilian and military leadership were the initial target of the attack.
"The Government and the people of Pakistan cannot be terrorised by blasts and such attacks," Mr Zardari said in a nationally televised address.
"If the cowards think they can terrorise the Government and the people of Pakistan, I state we shall not retreat from fighting terrorism. We will get rid of this terrorism cancer."
Rescuers were last night still pulling bodies from the wreckage of the place where Pakistan's most influential leaders regularly gathered. The dead included Czech ambassador Ivo Zdarek, who called his embassy moments after the bombing from inside the hotel asking to be rescued, but had not been heard from since.
Rescue teams searched the blackened hotel, room by room. But the temperatures remained high, and fires were still being put out last night. Officials said the main building could still collapse.
Many of the dead were guards manning the front gate. At least 21 foreigners were among the wounded, including Britons, Germans, Americans and several from the Middle East.
No Australians are believed to have been killed or wounded in the blast, but the Australian high commission is working with local authorities to determine if any were caught up in the attack.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Canberra was looking at how it could expand its efforts to help Pakistan's new Government fight terrorism, including the "possible provision of law-enforcement assistance, counter-insurgency training and technical assistance".
According to eyewitnesses, the truck, carrying building materials to disguise the bomb, pulled up at the heavy barrier that guarded the main entrance to the Marriott.
When sniffer dogs reacted, there was an altercation and the bomber detonated his deadly load. A fireball then raced through the hotel's main reception area and brought down the roof in the banquet hall at the back where the iftar dinner was being held. Within minutes, it had ignited a gas pipeline and much of the six-storey hotel was in flames.
There were scenes not unlike those seen in New York City during 9/11 as desperate guests jumped from windows as flames engulfed their rooms. At one point there were cries from bystanders who spotted two small children on the roof screaming for help. Before anyone could reach them, they were incinerated.
Security and intelligence sources said the attack was retaliation for the army offensive launched two months ago against Taliban and al-Qa'ida militants in the Bajaur Tribal Agency, part of the lawless districts on the Afghan border. It was also a strike at the new Government's perceived determination to do Washington's bidding in the war on terrorism.
"The Americans wanted Pakistan to launch a major operation against the militants and they've done that. In the past two months, Pakistan says, it has killed over 700 militants in Bajaur Agency many of them belonging to al-Qa'ida. This is clearly payback for that," a leading security analyst in Islamabad said last night.
Only last month, al-Qa'ida No2 Ayman al-Zawahiri accused Pakistan's new leaders of acting on behalf of the US and called on al-Qa'ida followers to rise up against them.
Security tsar Rehman Malik said that two days before the blast intelligence had been received that an attack on parliament was being prepared.
Massive security cordons were placed around the parliament. Dr Malik believed that "because of this, the truck bomb was barred to go towards the parliament house.
"It is our perception now that the terrorists had set two targets - one direct and the other optional. When they could not get to the parliament, they went to the Marriott."
Source: The Australian
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