PESHAWAR: Gunmen stormed a well-protected luxury hotel in Peshawar last night, then set off a massive truck blast that killed at least 11 people and wounded 46 more in the latest of a string of suicide attacks in Pakistani cities, officials said.
“There are two foreigners among the dead,” provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said, but would not reveal the nationalities. It came amidst Taleban threats to stage a campaign of assaults in retaliation for a military campaign against militants in the Swat Valley region.
Local television networks showed a scene of pandemonium outside the Pearl Continental Hotel. District Coordination Officer Sahibzada Anis said that attackers came in two vehicles. “After getting down from the first vehicle, gunmen started firing in different directions as the second vehicle broke steel bars and hit the hotel’s side where its laundry and a mosque are located.” At the time of the attack, most of the guests in the hotel were foreigners — majority of them UNHCR staff. Reports from Lady Reading Hospital said about 40 people were seriously injured.
Senior police official Abdul Ghafoor Afridi told AFP: “It was a bomb brought in a vehicle in the garb of hotel supplies.”
Hospital officials said foreign nationals were among the wounded. “We have received 46 injured people including five foreigners,” Dr. Mohammad Rehan told AFP at the main government hospital in the city.
Geo television reported a provincial minister and a member of the National Parliament were among the injured.
A relief worker said there were some injured foreign nationals inside the building. “They are not ready to trust us. The police will come and then they will be moved to the hospital.”
Pearl Continental is a favorite place for foreigners and elite Pakistanis to socialize, making it a high-profile target for militants.
— With input from agencies
