CCTV footage of Islamabad suicide bombing released
ISLAMABAD: Video footage was released on Sunday showing the last moments before a truck laden with 600 kg of explosives blew up outside Islamabad's Marriott Hotel, killing at least 53 people and wounding more than 260.
"The truck was stopped at the barrier and there was an altercation between the attacker and the guards," said Rehman Malik, the top official in the Interior Ministry, which released the images, told a news conference.
"A doctor was on an emergency call and was standing behind the truck. He asked the guards to remove the truck so that he could drive in to attend a patient," Malik continued. Sniffer dogs then detected something wrong and guards shouted to people to run.
The footage showed the truck driver tried to ram the tractable metal barrier and bar at the security checkpoint at the entrance to the hotel's forecourt and parking area.
Some accounts given earlier had suggested that there had been an exchange of fire between the truck driver and the security guards on duty, but that wasn't clearly evident from the closed circuit television images.
Most of the guards retreated when the truck tried to ram the barrier.
What happened next appeared to have been a small explosion in the cabin.
Flames were seen spreading from the front to the rear, of the hydraulic dumper truck as cars passed by on the road behind.
After the explosion some guards moved in before retreating once again, and finally one came back with a fire extinguisher, but failed to make an impression on the blaze.
Then the screen turned blue, presumably as the final explosion let rip, killing immediate bystanders. Other victims were felled by flying glass and from the subsequent fire that swept through the building.
"Preliminary investigations revealed that 600 kg explosives were used," Malik said. "High explosives RDX and TNT were used."
"Unlike previous attacks, aluminum power was also used...When the fire balls hit the building, the aluminum power fueled the fire," he said, explaining the ferocity of the blaze.
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Marriot blast:
Four foreigners among 53 dead
ISLAMABAD: Advisor to Prime Minister for Interior Rehman Malik Sunday confirmed that 53 people were killed including 4 foreigners while 286 others sustained injuries in the Islamabad bomb blast.
Briefing the media here, Rehman Malik said 600 Kg of TNT and RDX explosives were used in the attack, which he termed as the largest blast in Pakistan, but denied that there was a security lapse. Aluminum powder was used to trigger fire after the blast.
He said the four foreigners who died in the incident included an ambassador of Czech Republic, a woman from Vietnam and two US citizens.
Eleven foreigners were wounded including 4 US citizens, 4 Saudis and one each from Lebanon, Britain and Afghanistan.
He said the attack was a well-planned action to sabotage the economy and the country's progress.
It has been decided to step up the security in the capital city, he told the reporters and urged the media not to present the terrorists, who are responsible for killing innocent people, as heroes.
The Interior Advisor said the US has offered assistance in the investigation of the Marriot Hotel bomb blast.
“The incidents of terrorist acts in the country have links with FATA,’ he informed, adding that a number of suicide bombers had been arrested who will soon be presented before the media.
He said the government will not hold talks with the militants.
“We succeeded in establishing peace in those parts of FATA where we carried out operation…. Mangal Bagh and Taliban have fled from the area”.
He said the government had received the threat of attack and that is why strict security measures were adopted at the Parliament House where the President delivered his address.
“It was a well-planned explosion and the suicide bomber’s target of attack was Marriot Hotel,” Rehman Malik said.
Bodies of 45 persons who died in the blast have been handed over to the heirs while 6 bodies are still in hospital. 106 wounded are also present in the hospital.
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Terrorists targeted Marriot Hotel: Malik
ISLAMABAD: Advisor to Prime Minister for Interior Rehman Malik Sunday confirmed that 53 people were killed and 286 others
wounded in the Islamabad bomb blast.
Briefing the media here, Rehman Malik said 600 kilogrammes of TNT and
RDX explosives were used in the attack, which he termed the as largest blast in Pakistan, but denied that there was a security lapse.
He said the attack was a well-planned action to sabotage the economy and the country's progress.
It has been decided to step up the security in the capital city, he told the reporters and urged the media not to present the terrorists, who are responsible for killing innocent people, as heroes.
The Interior Advisor said the US has offered assistance in the investigation of the Marriot Hotel bomb blast.
“The incidents of terrorist acts in the country have links with FATA,’ he informed, adding that a number of suicide bombers had been arrested who will soon be presented before the media.
He said the government will not hold talks with the militants.
“We succeeded in establishing peace in those parts of FATA where we carried out operation…. Mangal Bagh and Taliban have fled from the area”.
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Terrorists want to destabilize country, hurt democracy: PM
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani terming the Saturday’s deadly suicide attack outside the Marriott hotel as a ‘cowardly’ act of terrorism said Sunday these terrorist and militant elements wanted to destabilize the country, by hurting democratic process and economy. “It is a cowardly act of terrorism against the innocent people in this holy month of Ramazan. The whole nation condemns and all the democratic forces are in grief on this tragedy”, Gilani told media persons here, as he visited the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) to inquire after the health of those injured in the suicide attack.
The Prime Minister informed the newsmen that so far 53 deaths from this tragic happening have been confirmed including the Ambassador of Czech Republic, Ivo Zdarek.
Gilani announced Rs. 300,000 each as compensation for the heirs of those killed in the attack and Rs. 100,000 for every injured.
The Prime Minister said the government was committed to fight terrorism and extremism and was following a three-pronged strategy to deal with this menace.
He said with only a handful of miscreants and terrorist elements, the people in Pakistan’s tribal areas are generally peace loving, patriotic and democratic and have always sacrificed for the country’s security and sovereignty.
Gilani said he has directed his Advisor on Interior to submit an initial inquiry report about the suicide attack by Sunday night, which took the lives of innocent people mainly the security staff and the law enforcing personnel.
He said the law enforcing personnel have been the focus and target of the militants for the last few months, as the terrorists wanted to demoralize the law enforcement agencies.
The Prime Minister appealed the countrymen to remain vigilant and help the government to identify and apprehend such elements.
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Czech envoy killed in Islamabad suicide attack
ISLAMABAD: The ambassador of Czechoslovakia has been killed in Islamabad suicide blast on Saturday while, rescue operation continues.
The death toll has so far reached 53 after more dead bodies have been recovered while more than 250 others were wounded in the blast.
The Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani confirmed, while talking to reporters, that so far 53 people have been killed in the tragic incident including the Ambassador of Czech Republic, Mr. Ivo
Zdarek.
Rescue and relief operation is going on and the fire fighters have put out fire but temperature inside the hotel building still remains high.
Thirteen more dead bodies were recovered from the debris today.
No one has so far claimed responsibility of the suicide attack. The government has announced a cash reward of
Rs. 10 million for providing information about the tragic incident.
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53
dead in Marriot Hotel blast in Islamabad
ISLAMABAD: At least 53 people were killed and scores others injured when an explosives laden vehicle was blown up at the entrance of Marriot Hotel here on Saturday.
Those killed include five women. 257 wounded, some of them critically were shifted to the local hospitals after the deadly explosion. The death toll is feared to rise further.
The powerful explosion caused fire in many parts of the hotel besides shattering the windowpanes of the buildings around the hotel.
According to details, a small vehicle broke through the security barrier outside the hotel before an explosives laden dumper truck was struck with the hotel causing a huge explosion.
This caused the gas pipelines to burst triggering fire which engulfed the entire building of the luxury hotel.
The explosion left a 20 feet wide and 25 feet deep crater on the ground.
According to police, 1000 kilograms of explosive material was used in the deadly explosion.
This hotel in Islamabad is a favorite place for foreigners to stay and gather, and it has previously been targeted by militants.
Ambulances rushed to the scene, where a fire also burned, smoke hovered and the carcasses of vehicles were scattered.
According to senior correspondent of Geo News, Hamid Mir, about 100 people are feared dead in the attack.
The blast left a vast crater some 20 feet deep and 30 feet wide in front of the main building where flames leapt from the windows and rescuers ferried a stream of bloodied bodies from the gutted building.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was hosting an Iftar dinner at the nearby Prime Minister's Secretariat. The event was attended by President Asif Ali Zardari and Army Chief Ashfaq Parvez
Kayani. There was no reports of anyone being injured at the Prime Minister's Secretariat.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, and its exact cause was unclear. 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.
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U.N. Chief condemns Islamabad suicide blast
NEW YORK:
U.N.
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the suicide attack in the federal
capital of Pakistan, saying that no cause can justify the indiscriminate targeting of civilians.
A spokesperson said that the UN chief strongly condemns the heinous terrorist attack in
Islamabad. He expressed his heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims as well as to the government
and people of Pakistan.
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US trying to determine if US nationals in Pakistan blast
WASHINGTON: The United States is in contact with its embassy in Islamabad about the deadly blast at a hotel there and
is looking into whether any US nationals were hurt, a State Department spokeswoman
told reporters here.
Fifty-three people were killed in a massive car bombing at a five star hotel in the Pakistan capital Islamabad on
Saturday, police there said.
Flames were seen shooting out of the hotel, a key meeting place for foreigners and one of the most carefully guarded sites in the city, after the powerful blast.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Nicole Thompson told a foreign news agency "we've seen the reports, and we are in contact with our embassy in Islamabad."
Thompson said that at the moment the State Department priority was getting information about any US nationals who might be affected.
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Turkish president deplores Marriott suicide blast
ANKARA: Turkish President Abdullah Gul on Sunday condemned the bomb attack in Pakistan that killed at least 60 people as a "revolting attack intent on destroying peace" in the country.
"I strongly condemn this revolting attack intent on destroying peace, serenity and democratic order in Pakistan," Gul said in a letter to his Pakistan's counterpart Asif Ali Zardari.
"I am absolutely convinced that the traitors will be overwhelmed by the sense of national unity and social commitment that the Pakistani people will show," the Turkish president said.
The letter was published on the Turkish president's website. Turkey and Pakistan enjoy close cultural and military ties.
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Chinese FM condoles with Pakistani FM over bomb attack
BEIJING: Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on Sunday sent a condolence message to his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi, condemning the suicide bomb attack on the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad.
"China firmly opposes terrorism of any form," Yang said in his message.
As a good neighbor and all-time friend of Pakistan, China will always support the unremitting efforts made by the government and people of Pakistan to safeguard the country's stability, Yang said.
He also extended his condolences and sympathies to the victims and their families.
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COAS expresses condolence over Islamabad bomb blast
ISLAMABAD: Chief of Army Staff
(COAS) General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani Sunday condemned the heinous attack on a hotel in Islamabad and has regretted the loss of precious lives.
The COAS expressed his heartfelt condolence to the families of all martyrs in this hour of grief and distress and said that the Army stands with the nation in its resolve to defeat the forces of extremism and terrorism.
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Islamabad
attack directed on nation’s resolve against terrorism: Sherry Rehman
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Sherry Rehman has strongly condemned Islamabad suicide attack. “This is an attack on the nation’s resolve against terrorism, reiterated by President Asif Ali Zardari in his first address to the Parliament on Saturday. She said the timing of the blast is an indication that the terrorists find Pakistan’s democracy as a threat to their existence.
“It is the government’s determination and the power of national consensus against the extremists groups that has pushed them into trying every avenue to challenge our security.” she said.
The Federal Information Minister said that Saturday’s blast is a reminder that there can be no disagreement over the fact that terrorism is the single biggest threat to the nation.
“There is need for the whole nation to demonstrate a united stand against extremist forces as the government stands determined to root out elements that continue to endanger our lives and our security”, she said.
“It is an attack on our people, and only a united stand against our enemy can push these forces to the corner”, she added.
The Minister extended her condolences to the relatives of the martyred and the injured. She said that public’s willingness to volunteer for blood donation and help the victims was heartening.
“It was a message for the attackers, that such cowardly strikes cannot terrorise us. We as a nation will always stand by each other in such difficult times”, she said.
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Rs. 10 million reward announced for informer of Islamabad blast
ISLAMABAD: The government has announced Rs. 10 million-reward money for a person who gives information regarding suicide bomber that hit the Marriott Hotel here on Saturday evening.
The spokesman of Islamabad Police Sunday said that Advisor to the Prime Minister on Interior, Rehman Malik has announced a cash reward for any citizen, who provides information regarding the suicide bomber.
He assured the name of the informer would be kept in secret and provided full security.
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Indian PM condemns Pakistan bombing
NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condemned Sunday the suicide bombing in Islamabad that killed at least 60 people, saying it demonstrated the "destructive forces" of terrorism.
Singh, in a letter to his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani, expressed his "shock and sorrow" over the attack, which destroyed the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad on Saturday night.
"We strongly condemn this act of terrorism," Singh said.
"Such attacks are a grim reminder of the challenges we face from destructive forces which have pitted themselves against the values of democracy and pluralism and the voices of moderation."
"We must not allow such forces to succeed," he added.
There has been no claim of responsibility for the Islamabad attack, but Pakistan investigators have said the bombing was likely carried out by Al-Qaeda.
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British PM condemns Pakistan bombing, pledges support
MANCHESTER: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Sunday condemned the suicide bombing in Islamabad and pledged that Britain would do whatever it could to help Pakistan combat terrorism.
Speaking to a foreign news channel in northern England where his Labour Party's conference is taking place, Brown said that Saturday's bombing was "completely inexcusable, the violence is completely unacceptable".
He added, "Terrorism has got to be rooted out and those violent extremists who are trying to destroy life for the purposes of getting propaganda must be told, once and for all, that the whole world is united against what they are doing."
Britain will stand with the Pakistan people and do everything we can to help
them, he said, and added that he had discussed stepping up co-operation on counter-terrorism with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari.
There has been no claim of responsibility for the Islamabad attack, which killed more than 50 people and destroyed the Marriott Hotel, but Pakistan investigators have said the bombing was likely carried out by Al-Qaeda.
The foreign ministry in London said Sunday that six Britons, including three members of the British High Commission in Islamabad and one minor, were injured in the attack. A local member of the High Commission was also injured.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband sent his best wishes to all those affected by the "horrendous attack".
"It's important to keep saying that we stand shoulder to shoulder with the people and the government of Pakistan at this really terrible time," he added during a fringe event at Labour's Manchester conference.
"The whole country will be mourning with the people of Pakistan today ... because in this country we have
around 900,000 people of Pakistani origin who are our friends and our relatives and our neighbours".
Miliband added that he and Brown would be speaking to Zardari at the UN's annual get-together in New York later this week.
Several of the suicide bombers in the July 7, 2005 attacks on the London transport system which killed 52 innocent people had trained at terror camps in Pakistan.
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Bombed five star hotel could collapse: police
ISLAMABAD: Police has warned that the bombed five star hotel in Islamabad could collapse following a huge bomb attack which left
53 people dead on Saturday.
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Security put on high alert across country
ISLAMABAD: Security has been put on high alert across the country after a deadly suicide attack at a five star hotel here on Saturday which claimed
53 lives.
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CAA fire tenders called in to overcome hotel blaze
ISLAMABAD: Fire tenders of Civil Aviation Authority were
called in to overcome the blaze at the five star hotel building which erupted following a powerful explosion here on Saturday.
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Suicide Blast: Help sought from Army’s Engineering Corps
ISLAMABAD: Government sought assistance of Army’s Engineering Corps in the ongoing rescue operation at the five star hotel which was attacked by a deadly suicide bomb blast here on Saturday.
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Bombers issued warning before blast: witnesses
ISLAMABAD: The bombers issued warning before the explosives laden car was rammed into the five star hotel, witnesses said.
Witnesses said before the suicide blast, a small vehicle hit the security barrier outside the hotel, a man emerged from it and warned the people present there that they had only three minutes time to run away and save their lives.
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Major attacks in Pakistan in 2008
ISLAMABAD: An apparent suicide attack at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad killed
53 people Saturday in the latest carnage in Pakistan.
More than 1,200 people have been killed in attacks, most of them suicide bombings blasts, in the past year. Here is a list of major attacks since the start of 2008:
January 10: Sixteen police and four civilians killed in a suicide bomb attack on police outside the high court in the city of Lahore.
January 14: Bomb kills 10 people at a crowded street market in Karachi.
February 9: Suicide bomber kills 25 people at opposition election rally in the northwestern town of Charsadda.
February 16: Suicide car bomber strikes a rally by party of slain former premier Benazir Bhutto in the northwestern tribal town of Parachinar, killing 37.
February 22: Roadside bomb hits wedding party in northern Swat, killing at least 14 people.
February 25: Suicide bomber kills army surgeon general Lieutenant General Mushtaq Baig and seven other people in Rawalpindi.
February 29: A suicide bomber kills 44 people in Mingora, the main town in the troubled Swat valley, during the funeral of three policemen killed by a roadside bomb earlier in the day.
March 2: Suicide bomber kills 43 at a meeting of anti-militant tribal elders in the northwestern district of Darra Adam Khel.
March 4: Two suicide bombers attack Pakistan Naval War College in Lahore, killing five people and wounding 19.
March 10: Suicide attackers detonate two huge truck bombs in Lahore, killing 26 people and partly demolishing the Federal Investigation Agency building in the city.
March 15: Bomb blast at Italian restaurant in Islamabad kills a Turkish woman and wounds 10 others, including four agents from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.
May 19: Suicide bomber kills 13 at an army bakery in the northwestern town of Mardan.
July 2: Suicide car bomb outside the Danish embassy in Islamabad kills eight people.
July 6: Suicide bomber kills 15 people in an attack on police in Islamabad during a rally to mark the anniversary of an army raid on the radical Red Mosque.
August 12: Roadside bomb rips through Pakistan air force bus in Peshawar, killing 13.
August 19: Suicide bomber kills 23 people at a hospital in northwestern town of Dera Ismail Khan.
August 21: Twin suicide attacks kill at least 57 people outside Pakistan's main arms factory in Wah, near Islamabad.
Aug 28: A bomb attack targeting policemen kill 10 people in the northwest garrison town of Bannu near the Afghan border.
September 3: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani escapes an apparent assassination attempt when two shots hit his motorcade, just three days before the country's presidential election.
September 6: Suicide bomber kills 33 people at a security checkpoint near Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province.
September 11: Suspected militants hurl grenades and fire into a mosque in Peshawar killing at least 20 worshippers.
September 20: A suspected suicide attack outside the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad killing
53 people, with more than 260 others wounded.
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FM Qureshi strongly condemns Islamabad blast
ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi has strongly condemned the blast outside a five star hotel on Saturday evening, that caused loss of lives. The Foreign Minister said the government of Pakistan abhors terrorism and extremism in all its forms and manifestations and will continue to cooperate with the international community to curb the terrorist and extremist ideologies.
Qureshi expressed his shock and grief over and loss of precious human lives and injuries and said the perpetrators of such heinous acts should be brought to justice.
He prayed for departed souls and sympathized with the families of the
victims.
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Naek says blast an act against democracy
ISLAMABAD: Minister for Law, Justice and Human Rights, Farooq H. Naek
has termed the Islamabad blast a conspiracy against the country and the democracy. “This is an act of conspiracy against the integrity of the country and democracy,” he told media in front of the bombed five star hotel, the site of blast.
“This is a tragic incident and whole the nation should stand united to fight such acts of terrorism,” Naek said.
“Some anti-state elements want to derail the democracy and destabilize the country through such acts,” he added.
Naek condemned the incident in strongest terms as well as terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.
“This is 9/11 of Pakistan and a desperate effort to terrorize people in which lives of innocent people are lost,” he said.
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Altaf condemns blast in Islamabad
KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Chief Altaf Hussain has strongly condemned Saturday bomb blast in the Federal Capital. In a statement issued from London, he termed it an act of terrorism. He also expressed grief over the loss of lives in the incident and sympathised with the bereaved families.
Altaf Hussain said the blast is a challenge to the government and the authorities responsible for maintaining law and order.
He said all those elements who are targeting the innocent people in the country for their evil intentions are enemies of the country and humanity.
Praying for the early recovery of the injured, Altaf called upon the people to show unity.
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Blast nature yet to be determined: Rehman Malik
ISLAMABAD: Advisor to the Prime Minister on Interior,
Rehman Malik has said that nature of Islamabad suicide blast
has been determined. Talking to reporters in front of bombed five star hotel here, Malik said over
260 are injured while all people inside the hotel have been safely evacuated.
Rehman Malik who visited the site of blast along with Secretary Interior and IGP Islamabad, however did not give any exact number of dead.
“We cannot confirm the number of dead at this moment,” he said.
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Britain terms Islamabad blast as “disgraceful” attack
LONDON: British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Saturday the bombing of an Islamabad hotel was a "disgraceful" attack which reinforces Britain's resolve to fight violent extremism with Pakistan.
"This latest bombing attack in Islamabad is yet another shocking and disgraceful attack without justification," Miliband said.
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US condemns Pakistan blast
WASHINGTON: The United States on Saturday condemned the bombing of a Pakistan hotel that left
53 people dead.
"The United States strongly condemns the terrorist attack that took place in Islamabad, Pakistan, today," national security council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said in a statement.
"This is a reminder of the threat we all face. The United States will stand with Pakistan's democratically elected government as they confront this challenge," said Johndroe, adding that Bush was briefed by National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley on the attack.
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