Suicide blast kills 15 at Pakistan hotel

Sally Sara, South Asia correspondent

Last Updated: Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:54:00 +1000

A suicide truck bomb has killed up to 15 people and injured more than 57 at a luxury hotel in north-western Pakistan.

Several foreigners are among those injured in the blast in the city of Peshawar.

Police say gunmen opened fire at security guards before detonating the truck bomb near the entrance of the Pearl Continental Hotel in Peshawar.

The blast was so powerful it left a large crater and partially demolished the front of the building.

Flames and smoke

"I was sitting in the eastern side of the hotel building and suddenly there was a huge blast which tumbled my chair and I fell on the ground," hotel employee Ghulam Ahmed told the AFP news agency.

"As I rose from the ground I saw flames and smoke."

The five-star hotel is popular with foreigners and government officials.

Rescue workers are now searching the rubble for the dead and injured.

Pakistan's Prime Minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, has condemned the attack.

Last year more than 50 people were killed when a similar truck bomb exploded at the entrance of the Marriott Hotel in the capital Islamabad.

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