Syed Saleem Shahzad
Asia Times Online
September 23, 2008
Pakistani authorities have compared Saturday evening’s devastating truck suicide attack on the Marriott Hotel in the capital Islamabad to the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
 |
|
|
|
|
In terms of its psychological effect, the blast, which killed more than 80 people, injured hundreds and burnt out the hotel, has traumatized the nation, and, like 9/11, marks the beginning of a new battle: this time not the “war on terror”, but the war by terrorists.
Pakistan is now the declared battleground in this struggle by Islamic militants to strike first against American interests before the United States’ war machine completes its preparations to storm the sanctuaries of al-Qaeda in Pakistan.
The attack on one of the hotels in the chain of the US Marriott group was one of the worst in Pakistan’s history and involved the sophisticated use of over 600 kilograms of TNT explosive blended with RDX and phosphorous, detonated when a truck rammed into a security barricade in front of the hotel.
Among the dead were the Czech ambassador to Pakistan, two US Marines, members of the US embassy staff, Saudi nationals and other European diplomats. More than 250 people were injured and dozens of parked cars were destroyed.
|
The Emergency Election Sale is now live! Get 30% to 60% off our most popular products today!