Asma Mirza and Adil Najam
(New videos and pictures added).
At aftaar time, Marriott Hotel in Islamabad was attacked by an explosive truck. Reportedly it has totally destroyed the hotel. This was the second bomb blast at the hotel in less than a year, adds to the feeling that Islamabad is now a major target of these dastardly killers (here, here, here). The pictures (from BBC) tell part of the story. But only a part.
One should note that this was the biggest of but just one of three suicide bomb blasts in Pakistan. The other two were in the tribal areas of Pakistan where Pakistan military was targeted.
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These are yet more in the long string of attacks on Pakistan. A list so long that one has even lost a sense of how long it is!
Here is an incomplete list of only the ‘major’ suicide attacks on Pakistan this year (from The News):
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.
August 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 at least 40 people, with more feared trapped inside the building.
According to police sources, the attacking truck was carrying 1000 KG (1 Ton) of explosives. Causing massive damage and causalities. Supposedly F-5 is one of the most secure area of Islamabad. 40+ killed in this havoc and many injured.The security was even tighter today than usual because the new President, Asif Ali Zardari, was making his first address to the parliament. Some wonder how related this was to what he had to say there:
The ones killed include the drivers who were waiting outside in parking lot and the large number of security guards. Also note, just next to Marriott there is a bus stop as well and a queue of taxis wait there. Emergency declared in all hospitals.Gas pipelines was exploded in the process causing more damage. Building nearby such as Balochistan House, Gulshan e Jinnah (living apartments for federal govt. employees) badly affected as well.
According to the news analysts as seen reporting on TV, it can be one of the biggest explosion seen in Pakistan’s history. Analyst Najam Sethi aptly said, “This is 9/11 of Pakistan“.
Zecchetti,
The gas pipeline burst causing the upper floor to catch fire. I don’t know the details but I read in one of the articles that that’s what had happened and that’s why the top floor was on fire. Look it up.
But you keep trying. Eventually you’ll find something else to convince yourself. People believe what they want to believe, myself included.
Zecchetti, you are right. You are no Sherlock Holmes. Not even close. Just a propagandist trying to divert attention from the real cancer in our society.
This by no means is an in depth study nor is it an official analysis but simply a few of my observations;
a) Search google images for pictures of the hotel immediatley after the ‘truck bombing’ or go to http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pak istan/3042007/Islamabad-Marriott-hotel-bomb-attack -captured-on-CCTV-says-Pakistan.html
or see the attachment.
b)in the foreground you will see some white arched structure on the ground floor which, I assume, is the entrance lobby based on photographs from Marriot Hotel website. This area has sustained some superficial damage, no structural or extensive physical destruction.
c) You will notice that more of the damage has occured to the main part of the building which is to the rear of the site (it’s on fire and damaged from the inside!).
d) Open google earth and navigate to the Marriott Hotel site in Islamabad. Type in Evacuee Trust Complex Building, Islamabad, Pakistan. The Marriott is to the left of this site.
e) from photographs and descriptions in articles you can roughly locate the postion of the ’20ft deep and 50ft wide crater’
f) using the measuring tool in Google Earth plot the distance between the ‘crater’ and the white arched entrance lobby. You will find the distance to be between 15-18 meters. Now measure the distance between the ‘crater’ and the main part of the building which is on fire – almost 40 meters away!!
g) Suspicious I hear you say, Well I’m no Sherlock but I’m having difficulty piecing together a few facts which have arisen;
1 – What type of explosion leaves a crater ’20ft deep and 50ft wide’ yet doesn’t destroy the entrance lobby only a few meters away?
2 – Does the explosion jump through space where the crater is in one area but the effects are felt elsewhere? (Maybe the LHC proton bashing had something to do with this!)
http://www.infowars.com/?p=4780 <– Have a look how/why US marines were unloading steel boxes to the 4th, 5th floor.
Very Important development as reported in Dawn Tue 23.9.08:
‘KHAR, Pakistan: Two major tribes on Tuesday vowed to take up arms against the Taliban and restore government writ in the Bajaur tribal region.
Known elders and Ulema of the Therkhani and Utmankhel, two major tribes of Bajaur, held a grand jirga at Civil Colony in Khar which decided to launch a campaign against anti-state elements and militants and extend support to troops in the ongoing operation.
Elders of the Salarzai tribe who had already started a movement against the militants and Taliban also participated in the jirga.
Jamil…keep dreaming. The ‘ordinary’ people smell a rat, unlike the secularists who are blinded. Please talk to ordinary people before making a statement about them. This is a clear conspiracy. I’ve already explained the motivation.
The funny thing is when Taliban accept responsibility, everybody accepts their statement. But, when they deny something, people still blame them. Again, no principles for you people!
For the count: Taliban have not accepted the responsiblity of BB’s murder nor they have taken responsiblity for this. So, people should stop crying that they are doing this to ‘my country’ and that to ‘my country’. They are doing nothing to this country compared to what this country’s army is doing to the Muslims of NWFP. This is not to say that what Taliban have done sometimes is from shariah or justified. Just look at Rehman Malik and his views of people of NWFP. May Allah deal with Rehman Malik.