Blast in 5-star hotel in Pak; 11 dead, 70 injured

Peshawar (Pakistan): Eleven people are feared dead and 70 injured in a powerful blast at a five-star hotel in Peshawar.

The blast took place at 2030 hrs (local time) in Pearl Continental Hotel in the Saddar area at Khyber Road on Tuesday.

Police officials said some gunmen were seen storming into the hotel in the northwestern city on just before the blast took place.

Witnesses also corroborated this and said four or five gunmen entered the hotel's compound from the rear and began firing indiscriminately.

The hotel's guards retaliated by firing at the gunmen before an explosive-laden car went off.

The rear of the hotel collapsed after the powerful explosion, which was heard from several kilometres away.

The blast was so powerful that windowpanes of the nearby buildings were shattered.

30 CARS BLOWN UP

The blast also destroyed about 30 vehicles in the hotel's parking lot and damaged a nearby mosque. Reports said that a provincial minister and a senator were among the injured.

According to reports in the Pakistani media, sounds of gunshots are still being heard in the area.

Rescue workers had to use ladders to access the building after the rear of the hotel collapsed.

TV channels beamed footage of people in blood-stained clothes being carried out of the hotel and the mangled remains of vehicles destroyed by the blast.

The injured have been rushed to a nearby hospital.

ALL ROADS TO HOTEL BLOCKED

Security agencies blocked all roads leading to the hotel after the blast as fire fighters, bomb disposal personnel and ambulances rushed to the site.

Thick black smoke rose into the sky after the explosion. Officials also rushed several foreigners out of the hotel after the attack.

The Pearl Continental is located near the official residences of the Corps Commander of Peshawar and the police chief of the North West Frontier Province.

Strict security arrangements are in place in the area and all cars are checked on the road leading to the Pearl Continental and at the hotel.

The hotel belongs to Pakistani tycoon Sadruddin Hashwani, who also owns the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad that was attacked by a suicide bomber last year. Nearly 60 people, including two US Marines, were killed in that attack.

The blast is the latest in a string of attacks in Pakistani cities in recent weeks that officials say are revenge for a military offensive against Taliban militants in the Swat Valley.

A recent report in the western media said the US State Department had plans to purchase the Pearl Continental for use as the consulate in Peshawar. The Pearl Continental is Peshawar's only five-star hotel and is set in its own expansive grounds.