AP News, January 26th, 2007
A man blew himself up outside the Marriott Hotel in Pakistan's capital on Friday, killing at least one other person and wounding seven in what appeared to be a suicide attack, officials said.
The Marriott is frequented by Islamabad's expatriate community, but it wasn't clear if any foreigners were among the casualties.
Although Pakistan has suffered numerous bombings in recent years, often the work of Islamic militants angered by the government's support for the U.S.-led war on terrorism, attacks are rare in Islamabad.
Rana Najam, a housekeeping manager for the hotel, said witnesses told him that they saw a man running toward a side entrance, where he was stopped by a security guard. The man then detonated explosives, killing himself and the guard, he said.
Police cordoned off the scene in downtown Islamabad, near Parliament and the president's office. The blast badly damaged the hotel around a side entrance that leads to the nightclub.
"It seems it was a suicide attack, but officers are still investigating," Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said.
Sherpao said one person was killed and others were wounded. Police said the wounded included a guard in critical condition.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
An intelligence official at the scene said two people had died _ a guard and the suspected attacker _ and at least seven people were wounded. He requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media.
Shoes and strips of clothes dotted the debris. Two cars parked nearby were also damaged.
Last week, a pro-Taliban militant leader in the remote tribal region of South Waziristan vowed to avenge a Pakistani airstrike on a suspected al-Qaida hideout near the Afghan border that killed at least eight people.
The hotel was targeted in an October 2004 bombing that wounded several people.
Security is already high amid fears of sectarian violence between Shiite and Sunni Muslims during Ashoura, a Shiite religious festival starting Monday.
