Death toll from blast rises

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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- A suicide bomber detonated a dump truck packed with a ton of explosives outside the Marriott in Pakistan's capital Saturday, setting off a fiery blast that shattered the luxury hotel, killed at least 42 people and wounded hundreds, officials and witnesses said.

The targeting of the American hotel chain was one of the largest terrorist attacks ever in Pakistan and came at a time of growing anger in Pakistan over a wave of cross-border strikes on militant bases by U.S. forces in Afghanistan. At least one American was killed and several were wounded.

The five-story Marriott had been a favorite spot for foreigners as well as Pakistani politicians and business people to stay and socialize in Islamabad despite repeated militant attacks on it. The bomb went off close to 8 p.m., when four restaurants inside would have been packed with diners at the hour that Muslims break their daily fast during the holy month of Ramadan.

"I didn't understand what it was, but it was like the world is finished," said Mohammad Sultan, a hotel employee who was in the lobby when the bomb exploded.

After the attack, rescuers ferried a stream of bloodied bodies from the gutted structure and the fire was still burning more than six hours after the blast, which sent up a thick pall of smoke over the area.

The explosion left a vast crater some 30 feet deep in front of the building.

Investigators on Sunday combed the gaping hole for evidence and rescue teams searched the building room by room. But the temperatures remained high and fires were still being put out in some parts.

Officials said the main building could still collapse.

"The building's structure is dangerous," said Malik Ashraf Awan, a senior civil defense officer. "It consumed too much heat and shock."

The death toll was likely to rise once the flames are extinguished and rescuers can thoroughly search the devastation.

The bombing came just hours after President Asif Ali Zardari made his first address to Parliament, less than a mile away from the hotel, and days ahead of the new leader's meeting with President Bush on Tuesday in New York on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.

Rehman Malik, the head of the Interior Ministry, told The Associated Press it was unclear who was behind the attack and there had been no claim of responsibility. But authorities had received intelligence that there might be militant activity linked to Zardari's address to Parliament and security had been tightened, he said.

Analysts said the attack is a warning from Islamic extremists to the new civilian leadership of Pakistan that it should end already-strained cooperation with the United States to pursue al-Qaida and Taliban militants entrenched in the lawless tribal region along the border with Afghanistan.

Terrorism researcher Evan Kohlmann said the attack was almost certainly either Al-Qaida or Pakistani Taliban.

"We are looking at either Al Qaida or Tehrik-e-Taliban (Pakistan)," he said. "It seems that someone has a firm belief that hotels like the Marriott are serving as 'barracks' for western diplomats and intel personnel, and they are gunning pretty hard for them."

Zardari reappeared after midnight on state television to condemn the "cowardly attack." He said he understood the victims' pain because he had buried his own wife -- assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto -- in December.

"Make this pain your strength," he said. "This is a menace, a cancer in Pakistan which we will eliminate. We will not be scared of these cowards," he said.

Witnesses and officials said the dump truck exploded about 60 feet away from the hotel at two heavy metal barriers blocking the entrance. The location of the hotel made it vulnerable. It lies just off a busy thoroughfare, less than a mile from the presidential offices and Parliament. The security gate was well within the range of the blast wave.

The explosion reverberated throughout Islamabad and shattered windows hundreds of yards away.

"The fire has eaten the entire building," said Mohammed Ali, an emergency service official at the scene. He said that after an initial chaotic search to find survivors, rescue teams had only been able to make two brief forays inside but found no bodies or survivors and had to retreat quickly.

Teams of firefighters sprayed water from firehoses as bulldozers cleared debris.

Earlier, a U.S. State Department official led three colleagues through the rubble from the charred building, one of them bleeding heavily from a wound on the side of his head. One of the four, who identified himself only as Tony, said they had been moving toward the rear of a Chinese restaurant inside the hotel after a first, small blast when a second explosion hurled them against the back wall.

"Then we saw a big truck coming to the gates," he said. "After that, it was just smoke and darkness."

Mohammed Asghar, a worker from a nearby office with a makeshift bandage round his head, said there was more than one man in the truck and that they had argued with the hotel guards.

"Then there was a flash of light, the truck caught fire and then exploded with an enormous bang," he said.

Senior police official Asghar Raza Gardaizi estimated the truck carried more than 2,200 pounds of explosives. He said in the midst of the rescue operation that at least 40 people were killed and many more feared buried in the rubble.

However, Kamal Shah, a senior Interior Ministry official, said earlier Sunday he knew of only 38 confirmed deaths.

Associated Press reporters saw at least nine bodies scattered at the scene. Scores of people, including foreigners, were running out -- some of them stained with blood.

Information Minister Sherry Rehman said at least 250 people were wounded. Hospital staff and other officials said 21 foreigners were among the injured, including four Britons, four Germans, two Americans and one each from Denmark, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Libya, Lebanon and Afghanistan. The Saudi ambassador said several staff from the kingdom's national airline were missing.

At one hospital, relatives were trying to identify dead bodies covered in bloodstained white sheets in the morgue. Some of the distraught family members wailed and hugged each other while police filled out forms for those claiming the dead. Some of the injured foreigners with their wounds bandaged were taken out in wheelchairs.

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