PAKISTAN: Hotel security cameras capture truck bomb minutes before deadly blast

Record ID: 356115

  • Title: PAKISTAN: Hotel security cameras capture truck bomb minutes before deadly blast
  • Date: 22nd September 2008
  • Summary: (W3) ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (SEPTEMBER 20, 2008) (REUTERS) ***CLOSE UP OF HOTEL CCTV FOOTAGE ON SCREEN*** BOMB TRUCK ARRIVING AT HOTEL SECURITY CHECK POST PEOPLE RUNNING AWAY FROM TRUCK FIRST EXPLOSION IN TRUCK / SMOKE BILLOWING FLAMES SPREADING IN TRUCK HOTEL GUARD USING HOSE TO EXTINGUISH FIRE TRUCK IN FLAMES
  • Embargoed: 7th October 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Pakistan
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA8UEDOM7OFDPWIA4L1TX8KB77B
  • Story Text: Security cameras at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad capture a bomb truck arriving at the hotel's security check post, followed by an explosion which preceded Saturday's (September 20) deadly blast. The footage is being investigated by Pakistani security authorities.
    Video footage from security cameras installed in Islamabad's Marriott Hotel shows the last moments before a truck laden with 600 kg of explosives blew up outside the hotel, killing at least 53 people and wounding more than 260. The video was released on Sunday (September 21).
    The footage from saturday (September 20) showed the truck driver tried to ram the retractable metal barrier and bar at the security checkpoint at the entrance to the hotel's forecourt and parking area.
    Some accounts given earlier had suggested that there had been an exchange of fire between the truck driver and the security guards on duty, but that wasn't clearly evident from the closed circuit television images.
    Most of the guards retreated when the truck tried to ram the barrier.
    What happened next appeared to have been a small explosion in the cabin.
    Flames were seen spreading from the front to the rear of the hydraulic dumper truck as cars passed by on the road behind.
    After the explosion some guards moved in before retreating once again, and finally one came back with a fire extinguisher, but failed to put it off completely.
    Then the screen turned blue, presumably as the final explosion let rip, killing immediate bystanders. Other victims were felled by flying glass and from the subsequent fire that swept through the building.
    Rehman Malik, the top official in the Interior Ministry, which released the images, told a news conference in Islamabad that a truck was stopped at the barrier and there was an altercation between the attacker and the guards.
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