Non-Subscriber Extract
Pakistan hotel bombing increases instability
11 June 2009
Pakistani soldiers stand next to debris of the Pearl Continental Hotel after a suicide bombing in Peshawar on 10 June 2009. (PA)
Suicide bombers attacked the Pearl Continental Hotel in the Pakistani city of Peshawar on 10 June, killing at least 11 people, including two foreigners, and injuring more than 50 others.
The hotel was reportedly filled with officials from the UN and other international aid agencies. The bombing is likely to have been targeted at the international presence in the hotel and was timed to inflict maximum casualties.
A police official said gunmen were able to breach the two electronic security barriers at the hotel gate by shooting at security guards. The gunmen then entered the parking lot, where they fired indiscriminately. An explosives-laden truck was then driven into the complex and detonated in the parking lot. The precise number of gunmen, vehicles and quantity of explosives remains unclear.
The latest attack is likely to be locally perceived as a retaliatory attack for ongoing military operations in the North West Frontier Province, and suspicion will fall on the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), although the involvement of other groups can not be ruled out.