The suicide bomber who killed more than 50 people at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad had first tried to target the Parliament building, it has been claimed. [IMG]newschoolers.com/sky-news/content/StaticFile/jpg/2008/Sep/Week3/15103883.jpg[/IMG]
Huge crater outside the burning hotel in Islamabad
And Pakistan's government is blaming members of the Taliban with links to al Qaeda for the attack.
The country's new president has pledged to fight the "cancer" of terrorism after a truck bombing killed 53 people at a luxury hotel in Islamabad.
The bomber targeted the Marriott Hotel, just hours after Asif Ali Zardari made his first address to Parliament, less than a mile away.
It is now thought the building was the original target for the bomber, but the plan failed.
Footage has also emerged of the first truck bomb that attacked the hotel. It shows the vehicle hitting the security gates and people running away before returning to the blazing truck with hand-held fire extinguishers.
Shortly after the small blast, the hotel was attacked by the vastly larger bomb, which killed more than 50 people.
Pakistanis helping emergency services at the scene have been pulling bodies from the burnt shell of the heavily-guarded hotel in the country's capital.
Among the dead are two Americans, a German, the Czech ambassador to Pakistan, Ivo Zdarek, and a Vietnamese. A Danish diplomat is also feared dead.
At least 13 other foreigners are among the 271 wounded in the blast.
And six of them are British citizens, including one child.
Mr Zardari returned to state television after midnight to condemn the "cowardly attack".
Pakistan President Asif Zardari
He said he understood the victims' pain because he had buried his own wife - assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto - in December.
"Make this pain your strength," he said. "This is a menace, a cancer in Pakistan that we will eliminate. We will not be scared of these cowards."
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has told Mr Zardari that Britain will do everything it can to help Pakistan "root out terrorism".
He said: "What happened is inexcusable and the violence is completely unacceptable.
"The violent extremists who are trying to destroy life for the purposes of propaganda must be told once and for all that the whole world is united against what they are doing."
President Bush said the bombing was "a reminder of the ongoing threat faced by Pakistan, the United States, and all those who stand against violent extremism".
A 20ft-deep crater has been left in the road in front of the gates of the hotel, which had been bombed twice before.
Pakistan's Interior Ministry said the bomb probably contained more than 1,100lb of explosives.
Pictures here-http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Pakistan-Inferno-After-Bomb-Attack-On-Marriott-Hotel-In-Islamabad/Media-Gallery/200809315103748?lpos=World_News_rcNews_in_Picture_Home_Region_0&lid=GALLERY_15103748_Pakistan%3A_Inferno_After_Bomb_Attack_On_Marriott_Hotel_In_Islamabad
