8:24pm UK, Saturday September 20, 2008
A huge suicide truck bomb has devastated the Marriott Hotel in Pakistan's capital - killing at least 40 people.
Devastation after truck bomb explosion
The blast started a fire that raged for hours and also left a vast crater some 30ft-deep in front of the building in Islamabad.
"This is a well-built hotel - built to earthquake standards and prepared for being a terror target -so that indicates the size of the explosion."
Emergency crews ferried a stream of bloodied bodies from the gutted structure - which rescuers feared could collapse.
Hundreds have been wounded
Army engineers headed to the scene to help look for anyone trapped in the rubble.
The five-floor, 290-room Marriott is popular with foreigners as well as the Pakistani elite to stay and socialise - despite repeated militant attacks over the years.
The country's Interior Ministry said 236 people had been wounded.
Two hospitals said 10 foreigners were among those being treated, including one each from Germany, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Afghanistan.
Four British citizens, two adults and two children, were also hurt.
The Foreign Office said the kids suffered superficial injuries but the two adults were remaining in hospital overnight for observation.
The blast left a vast crater
Senior police official Asghar Raza Gardaizi said the blast, which shattered windows many hundreds of yards away, was caused by more than 2,200lbs of explosives.
The attack came hours after new President Asif Ali Zardari told the country's parliament that Pakistan would not tolerate Islamist militant violence.
Mr Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani condemned the attack as a "heinous crime" and said those behind it would be brought to justice.
I don't understand what it was, but it was like the world is finished.Marriott Hotel employee Mohammad Sultan
Witnesses said they saw a large truck drive up to the fortified main gate of the hotel at about 2pm GMT, when its restaurants would have been packed with diners.
A police official said rescuers had counted at least 40 bodies and he feared that there were "dozens more dead inside".
The country faces a raging insurgency by the Pakistan Taliban in its border areas, where al Qaeda militants are also operating.
It has suffered a wave of militant violence, including several attacks in the capital, in recent months following army-led offensives against rebels.
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