M A I N   N E W S

Aluminium powder was used to enhance impact
Czech envoy killed in Marriott blast
Afzal Khan writes from Islamabad

Pakistani paramilitary forces lay barbed wire to cordon off the area near the Marriott Hotel after a suicide bomb blast in Islamabad on Sunday. — Reuters

The Ambassador of Czechoslovakia was one of the four foreigners killed in yesterday’s bomb blast that devastated the capital’s main 5-star Marriott Hotel, adviser to Prime Minister for interior Rehman Malik told reporters here on Sunday.

He said several foreigners were among those killed.

Malik confirmed that the administration had prior warning of the suicide bombers targeting Parliament House on the occasion of President Zardari’s address to the joint session of Parliament. “We successfully provided enough security to let this event pass without any untoward incident,” Malik said, rejecting widely-held view that the episode represented a serious security lapse.

He said the attackers used high quality RDX and TNT explosives, including mortar bombs, weighing over 600 kg with aluminium powder never used in hundreds of other blasts in the past. The presence of aluminium powder enhanced the inflammatory impact, making it difficult to extinguish it even 12 hours after the explosion.

Malik acknowledged that it was a well-planned assault targeting nation’s top civil and military leadership, which had gathered under one roof, first to listen to President Asif Zardari’s maiden address to the joint session of Parliament in the afternoon and then at the iftar reception hosted by speaker of the National Assembly Dr Famida Mirza. The speaker shifted the venue from the sprawling lawns of Parliament House to the adjacent more secure Prime Minister’s House in view of the warning.

He said the bombers took advantage of the permission given by the authorities to construction trucks to enter the area in the evening. The bombers ripped through the hotel’s security barrier but the material exploded while they were heading towards the lobby that saved scores of people who were having dinner in ground restaurants.

He said Czechoslovakian envoy Ivo Zdarek was killed while having dinner with friends. His body was retrieved from the debris today.

Malik said the government held itself responsible for any lapse in providing security to the citizens but the suicide bombing was a menace that was difficult to control as it was evident from the experience of other countries, including India and Britain.

Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani also spoke to journalists during a visit to hospital about 18 hours after the blast. He refuted criticism over security lapses and cited the success in protecting Parliament on the occasion of the presidential address earlier in the day.

Gilani also rejected the suggestion that the Marriot blast might have a nexus with explosions in New Delhi last week. He said Pakistan condemned the Delhi blasts as both countries were facing terrorism.

PM condemns Pak blast
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 21
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has condemned the suicide attack at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad yesterday, saying it was a grim reminder of the challenges the destructive forces posed to democratic societies.

In a message to Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, he said: “We strongly condemn the act of terrorism and 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.”

The Prime Minister said “such forces threaten peace and stability of each of us individually and all of us collectively and they should not be allowed to succeed. They must be dealt with and brought to justice.”

Footage of blast released
Afzal Khan writes from Islamabad

A video released by the interior ministry on Sunday shows the suicide attacker rammed his truck into the main gate of Marriott Hotel and blew himself up minutes before the blast.

The high quality TNT and RDX explosives loaded in the truck caused extensive damage not only to the hotel building but also to other buildings in about a kilometre radius around the hotel.

Interior minister Rehman Malik told reporters here that the attacker was aiming at the main lobby but could not crash through the second barrier at the gates and blew himself up. The main explosion happened a few minutes later. There is no footage of that because the blast destroyed the camera, Malik said.

Marriott’s owner Sadruddin Hashwani said most of the 299 rooms of the hotel have been badly damaged but he was not disheartened by the loss.