Bomb rocks Pakistan hotel; dozens killed

At least 60 people were killed and dozens of others were wounded after a suspected car bomb caused a huge explosion outside the Marriott Hotel in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, on Saturday.

Earlier, senior Police Official Asghar Raza Gardaizi says he fears "there are dozens more dead inside." He said that the blast, which reverberated throughout Islamabad, was caused by more than 1,000 kilograms of explosives.

A reporter at the scene told CNN that as many as 200 people were feared to be inside the building.

Bombing aftermath (Photo: AFP)

Television images showed flames and smoke pouring out of the hotel and bodies being carried away.

"The explosion happened as a car reached the barricade outside the hotel," a senior police official said, adding that it appeared to have been a suicide attack.

Ceilings collapse

A Reuters witness said he could see fires in at least two places in the hotel and at least 20 cars parked on the street outside had been destroyed.

Television pictures later showed flames spreading to other parts of the 290-room hotel, located close to the city centre and very popular with tourists.

Witnesses reported that ceilings in the hotel lobby and dining area had collapsed.

The attack came soon after Pakistan's new president, Asif Ali Zardari, had made his first address to a joint session of parliament, pledging that Pakistan would not tolerate any infringement of its territory in the name of the fight against militants.

Zardari is close to the United States and had earlier promised to maintain nuclear-armed Pakistan's commitment to the US-led "war on terrorism", even though it is deeply unpopular.