Peshawar hotel attack exposes Pakistan's insecurity

Pakistan attack leaves 5 dead
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By Robert Birsel
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani security cameras showed on Wednesday barriers were lowered at the entrance to Peshawar's top hotel just before militants drove into the forecourt and exploded a truck bomb, killing at least nine people, including two foreign U.N. workers.
Taliban militants have stepped up attacks in cities since the army launched a campaign in April to clear Taliban fighters from a stronghold in Swat and other parts of northwest Pakistan.
More than 1,300 militants and 105 soldiers have been killed in Swat, and the army's resolve has heartened U.S. officials, who have been worried that nuclear-armed Pakistan could slide into chaos unless the Taliban's advance weren't stopped.
On Wednesday, the military said it launched an assault on militant positions in Bannu, after up to 800 militants infiltrated the district adjoining the Waziristan tribal region, another Taliban and al Qaeda stronghold.
The closed circuit television camera footage of Tuesday night's militant attack in Peshawar, however, will inevitably reinforce concerns over insecurity in Pakistan.
U.N. agencies issued statements saying five of their workers, including a Serbian man and Philippine woman and three Pakistanis, were among those killed in the assault on the Pearl Continental, a hotel popular with VIPs and foreigners visiting the capital of North West Frontier Province.
Qazi Jameel, a senior police official, told Reuters that nine people had been killed in the attack, and rescuers were still looking for more victims. There were more than 60 wounded, including a British and a Nigerian man, and a German woman.
The toll excludes dead militants and people still missing. There were conflicting reports on the number killed and some officials have given a higher toll.
SECURITY BREACH
The blast blew out all the hotel windows, and caused several walls and a section of floors to collapse on the front side. Less than a third of the 150 rooms were occupied
The sons of a hotel cook, sat weeping in the ruined lobby, waiting for word on their father.
"We are trying to call him on his mobile, the bell is ringing but no one is answering," said 25-year-old Sheikh Junaid.
Militants had shot their way into the forecourt and exploded a truck bomb in front of the lobby, evoking nightmarish memories of the attack on the Marriott hotel in Islamabad last September that killed 55 people.
News channels ran closed circuit television camera footage from the checkpoint at the hotel entrance on the main road.
It showed a cyclist speaking to a security guard, who then returned to his cabin. As the cyclist pedaled through, a retractable metal barrier in the driveway was lowered. Continued...
Source: Reuters