Suicide blast in Peshawar hotel kills 14

Peshawar, Jun 10: A suicide bomb blast rocked the Peshawar city of Pakistan on Tuesday, Jun 9 night. The militants stormed Pearl Continental Hotel, a luxury hotel in the high-security cantonment of Pakistan's north-western Peshawar city, killing atleast 14 including foreigners and injuring more than 57.

Police said that two men crossed the security barrier and rammed a pick-up truck packed with explosives into the five-star hotel causing massive destruction. Abdul Ghafoor Afridi, a senior police official said, Three more dead bodies including the body of a police official were recovered from the debris on Wednesday, Jun 10 morning. Police fear that the death toll could rise as many people were still trapped under the debris.

One portion of the Pearl Continental Hotel is fully destroyed. Three people including the manager of the hotel are still missing. Many foreigners including two United Nations workers Serbian Aleksandar Vorkapic with the refugee agency and Filipina Perseveranda So with the children's agency were killed according to UN reports.

This is the seventh suicide attack in the city, which is considered as a retaliation by Taliban for military offensive against them in three northwest districts. The attack echoes a suicide truck bomb attack on the luxury Marriott Hotel in Islamabad in Sep 2008 that killed 60 people.

The militants entered the hotel firing at the security guards and struck the vehicle into the hotel building and it exploded on impact.

OneIndia News