Bomb shatters PC Hotel

PESHAWAR At least 13 persons including three foreigners were killed while over 75 others sustained injuries when militants blew up their explosives-laden vehicle after storming into the compound of a five-star hotel situated on the Khyber Road here Tuesday night, police and witnesses said.
The witnesses said that the attackers first opened fire at the security personnel guarding the main entrance of the Pearl Continental Hotel to clear their vehicles entry into the building.
They took the vehicle to the parking lot of the hotel close to the mosque and blew it up killing 13 people including three foreigners and wounding 75 others, several of them foreigners.
A portion of the hotel was razed to the ground while around 50 vehicles in the parking lot were damaged.
The number of casualties could rise as some of the persons were reportedly trapped inside the debris, the eyewitnesses said.
An eye-witness said that first he heard firing and then there was a loud bang, which left the area engulfed in thick smoke. He said that the blast also suspended electricity to the area. The five-star hotel is located in a high security zone, as building of Radio Station Peshawar, NWFP Assembly, High Court, Corps Commander House, Supreme Court and Met Office were also located there.
It is believed that the blast was on the footprints of Marriot Hotel in Islamabad. The PC blast went off around 10:30pm, destroyed around 50 vehicles parked in the hotel parking lot, besides badly damaging the hotel building.
Soon after the blast, law-enforcement agencies cordoned off the area and closed the Khyber Road for every kind of traffic as well. The terrorists managed to get their vehicle into the building despite strict security at the gate of the hotel. The hotel was evacuated following the blast. Emergency was declared in Peshawar hospitals and around 75 injured were brought to the hospitals till filing of this report. The police have arrested several suspected people after the blast.
A Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) official said that at least 500 kilograms of explosives were used in the attack, saying probably a vehicle was used for the attack. Meanwhile, the United Nations has said that at least 16 foreigners were also staying at the hotel.
NWFP Information Minister Iftikhar Hussain confirmed 11 deaths and over 50 injured persons. He said that three foreigners were also injured in the blast.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani have strongly condemned the blast.
They ordered the authorities to launch an immediate inquiry into the incident, so that the culprits of this terrorist incident could be brought to justice. Both the leaders also conveyed his condolences to the bereaved families.
Agencies adds: NWFP Minister for Zakat Rashid Khan and ANP Senator Nabi Bangash were also injured in the attack, according to private TV channels.
The blast hit the Pearl Continental Hotel in the high-security Khyber Road area. Fire erupted at the ground floor of the building after the blast and was extinguished by the firefighters after hectic efforts. Chaos enveloped the hotel popular with dignitaries, officials and foreign visitors.
Troops along with the police and paramedics also arrived at the scene soon after the incident and cordoned off the area.
Smoke was billowing around the damaged building and rescue workers rushing the wounded, including foreigners, to safety.
The hotel is a favourite of foreigners and wealthy Pakistanis, making it a high-profile target for militants.
Attackers in a pick-up truck entered the compound of the luxury hotel, spraying security guards with bullets before ramming the vehicle into the building and detonating.
Police official Liaqat Ali said three men riding in a truck approached the main gate of the hotel and opened fire at security guards before driving inside.
They drove the vehicle inside the hotel gates and blew it up on reaching close to the hotel building.
Thirteen people have been killed, a top provincial police official said. The toll is likely to rise.
Three foreigners including UNHCR official Alexander Joseph, a Russian national, were among those killed in the deadly explosion.
Hospital officials said foreign nationals were also among the wounded.
We have received at least 75 injured people including six foreigners, said a doctor at the main government hospital in Peshawar.
Hotel staff, security guards and passers-by were among the dead.
Three wounded foreigners are Nigerian nationals, according to a news channel. It is noted that the hotel was being used as the permanent residence by United Nations various agencies staffers deputed in NWFP.
PIA sources said at least two airhostesses were also injured in the blast.
The police official said it was a bomb brought in a vehicle in the garb of hotel supplies.
Witnesses said, There are many bodies lying inside the hotel and there are many more injured.
It is reported that the bomb was in a car. The attackers fired on a checkpoint in front of the hotel. They then took the car round the back of the hotel and set the bomb off. The back of the hotel has totally collapsed.
Rows of balconies appeared to have been ripped off the face of the hotel, where rescue workers struggled to help those trapped inside. A clutch of United Nations vehicles were among dozens of charred cars parked outside.
Electricity of the area was interrupted following the blast, creating difficulties in carrying out relief activities.
Police also arrested a suspected person from the blast site.
According to preliminary investigations, about 550kg of explosive material was used in the blast.
No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack but the Taliban are likely culprits having launched a wave of attacks in Pakistan in retaliation for a military campaign against militants in the Swat Valley region.
Witnesses and a security official said they heard gunfire before the blast.
There was a huge blast inside PC (Pearl Continental) hotel, Afridi said earlier, adding that the explosion led to fire in building.
It was a suicide attack, city police chief Sefwat Ghayur told AFP.
Occupants of a double-cabin pick-up truck forced their way in, firing at the security guards. The attackers struck their vehicle into the hotel building, and it exploded on impact, he added.
There was a huge blast inside PC (Pearl Continental) hotel, senior police official Abdul Ghafoor Afridi told AFP earlier, adding that the explosion led to fire in the building.
Television footage showed ambulances and police cars streaming to the hotel.
I was in the Chinese restaurant when we heard firing and then a blast. It was totally dark and people started shouting and running, Ali Khan, a hotel waiter, was quoted as saying.
It is the seventh deadly bombing to hit the troubled city in a month, as fears grow that Taliban are extracting revenge for a punishing six-week military offensive against them in three northwest districts.
However, NWFP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain told AFP, There are two foreigners among the dead, but would not reveal the nationalities.
It would be too early to say anything about the identities of the foreigners, he added.
Peshawar district administration chief Sahibzada Anees said one foreigner who worked for the UN had been killed in the blast, popular with dignitaries, officials and overseas visitors.
The identity of the second foreigner killed in the blast has not been established yet, Anees said.
The injured and confused stumbled among twisted metal, with rubble strewn among the once-manicured laws of the hotel, just opposite the historic Bala Hisar Fort and Peshawars golf course.
The blast was so huge it shattered the windows of the Provincial Assembly and Peshawar High Court located near by, an AFP correspondent on the scene said, and a deep crater was visible outside the four-story hotel.
Meanwhile, a remote-controlled roadside bomb in a northwestern town wounded eight people, including five policemen, police and hospital officials said Tuesday.
Five policemen and three civilians were wounded in a remote-controlled bomb attack, district police chief Mohammad Iqbal Khan told AFP.
The bomb was planted on a roadside in the town of Dera Ismail Khan and was detonated when a police vehicle approached it, Khan said.
There was an attack on a rescue police vehicle, local police official Ghulam Jillani told AFP earlier.
Government hospital administrator and doctor Ashiq Saleem said five wounded policemen and three civilians were brought to the hospital and that their condition was stable.
Dozens of people have died in drive-by shootings and bombings in the Dera Ismail Khan district bordering a restive tribal region in recent months, amid tensions between Sunni and Shiite Muslims.
But attacks on police and security forces have previously been blamed on Taliban active in the neighbouring South Waziristan tribal district.