40 Killed in Massive Bombing of Marriott in Islamabad

Guerrillas in Pakistan set off an enormous bomb blast at the Marriott in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad Saturday morning EDT. It left a 30 foot crater and set off a conflagration that was still burning brightly hours after the bombing.

Aljazeera English reports on the explosion:



The Pakistani military has been bombing the tribal territory of Bajaur intensively, forcing 300,000 people from their homes and killing scores,including civilians. And the US has made incursions in South Waziristan recently against the Wazir tribe there.

Just logically speaking, an attack on the Marriott where international businessmen and US government personnel tend to stay, would likely be a response by the Pakistani Taliban to these attacks on them and their people.

For the Federally Administered Tribal Areas where the Tehrik-i Taliban is based, see this link.

The tribes are not necessarily the same as the Taliban and sometimes fight them, and each is different from the foreign operatives that have gravitated to these remote regions.

The FATA areas are only 3% of Pakistani territory and have only 2% of its population, about 3 million people.

John Robertson has more and links to

Pamela Constable on the new, improved Taliban in Afghanistan.