| Submit your comments on this article |
| India-Pakistan |
| Pak blast: Bomber had two targets -- 'direct and optional' |
| 2008-09-22 |
| (PTI) The suicide bomber, who struck at the luxury Marriott hotel here killing 60 people, had probably intended to attack Pakistan's Parliament during President Asif Ali Zardari's maiden address there but switched to the 'optional' target after failing to enter the high-security area, officials said. Rehman Malik, the Prime Minister's Adviser on Interior Affairs, told reporters that authorities had received intelligence reports on Thursday that "some big suicide attempt" would be made on Parliament during Zardari's address yesterday. Malik said he and the Interior Ministry experts believed the truck used in the attack tried to enter Islamabad's "red zone" a high security area in which Parliament, Supreme Court, presidency and Prime Minister's House are located at the time of Zardari's speech. Strict security arrangements put in place along the Constitution Avenue, the central boulevard on which Parliament is located, and orders barring the entry of private vehicles prevented the suicide attacker from entering the area, he said. Malik said the attacker had two targets, "one direct and one optional", and decided to strike at the Marriott -- which was earlier also targeted by a suicide bomber in January 2007 -- after failing to attack the Parliament house. The explosives in the truck were hidden under sand and stones in view of construction activity going on in the "red zone", where new accommodation is being built for some ministers, he said. Officials said they believed 1,000 kgs of explosives were packed into the truck. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Seems far-fetched, but could Iran have a hand in this? |
| Posted by: gorb 2008-09-22 07:08 |