To be quite honest after speaking to some people in Islamabad as well as listening to TV reports right after this terrible bomb blast, when the cctv footage was released it left me more than a little worried.
- First of all how did a truck this big totally laden with explosive just amble up to the gate of the Marriot?
- Secondly I have personally stayed in this hotel and the barricade is at least 400 feet from the main lobby, what caused the entire place to go up in flames? The authorities say a gas line burst but this is a 5 star facility and as such properly equipped with sprinklers and fire fighting equipment. It is also thoroughly checked and maintained to keep its rating.
- Last but not the least where is the first car onlookers told everyone about? How come there are only 5 guards at this huge barricade and why in gods name aren’t they shooting the suicide bomber instead of trying to douse the fire after he lights the fuse. By any training shouldn’t they be going wild on radios calling in the cavalry once they knew what this was?
In spite of all these questions it is still a tragedy, nay a travesty for this great hotel to be reduced to ruins at the behest of a few shadowy men. News has also now arisen that the government had planned an iftar dinner here in the hotel which was re scheduled due to security reasons. To me all this sounds a bit too fishy, quite frankly if the truck in question did not go into the lobby and explode in it ,the amount of damage caused is impossible. The entire roof of the dining hall and the lobby has caved in and this cannot happen from this distance…something is wrong very very wrong.
My personal salute to the brave men who died trying to do their jobs. May god grant them peace and their families strength to go past this ordeal.
I fully agree with you. The truck blew up at the barricade but it was the upper floor of the building that caught fire. Why is it that the fire did not cause any damage to the ground floor. Something is really wrong here.
I just heard a news story on MSNBC in the US that said that there was a certain chemical in the bomb that gave it such range – a propellant of sorts.
Horribly disturbing. This story is being UNDERreported over here.
@ Nasir & Anna
As per new reports there was some sort of aluminum powder used that gave the explosion much further reach then usual. Still does not explain why entire portions of the hotel have caved in and why the sprinkler system did not work.
It has also been ascertained that the sprinkler and fire system did not work. The death toll is also dodgy as per media reports and reservations with the front desk there were 300 people alone breaking their fast in the dining room are where the entire roof fell down… I personally cannot buy any of this. It just does not compute. It has to be an internal bomb coupled with the explosion from outside.