Wikinews

Marriott Hotel in Islamabad bombed

This is the stable version, checked on 18 December 2024. Template changes await review.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Related articles
Location of Pakistan
Collaborate!
Pakistan
Pakistan
Audio
Audio file created from text revision dated 2008-09-20 and may not reflect subsequent edits to this report.

The Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan was bombed today killing at least 60 people and injuring 120.

The explosion, believed to be a car or truck bomb and heard 30 km (18 miles) away in Rawalpindi, occurred at 8 P.M. PDT (14:00 UTC), just hours after newly elected President Asif Ali Zardari addressed Parliament promising to destroy terrorism in the country.

It is thought that more than a ton of explosives were used in the blast, which left a crater 30 feet deep and triggered a gas leak which sent the hotel up in flames. It is feared that the death toll may go much higher in what is one of the worst terror attacks in Pakistan's history.

The Marriott is a popular place for foreigners to stay and a prominent enterprise in the city, despite a wave of violence the country suffers.

The hotel had been victim of another attack in January 2007 where a security guard was killed and several people injured after the guard blocked a bomber from getting at the hotel, forcing him to detonate his explosives where he was.

Ambulances rushed to the scene of today's explosion, where rescuers ferried away the dead. Dozens of vehicles were gutted by fire, nearby trees were knocked down, and windows shattered in buildings hundreds of metres away. Witnesses, including a security guard, described a large truck approaching the building immediately before the explosion.

No-one has yet claimed responsibility for the bombing, but the main suspects are Pakistan Taleban who operate in the north-west of the country.


Sources

 
Wikipedia
Wikipedia has more about this subject:
 

Share this:           



 

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

The text of this article is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License

  This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

The text of this article is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License
Retrieved from "https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=Marriott_Hotel_in_Islamabad_bombed&oldid=4821744"