PAKISTAN President Asif Ali Zardari vowed last night not to retreat from fighting terrorism, after at least 60 people were killed and more than 200 wounded when Islamabad`s Marriott hotel was destroyed in a suicide attack described as Pakistan`s 9/11.
The 600kg truck bomb that destroyed the 300-room hotel at the heart of the capital was believed to be the work of al-Qaeda and the Taliban, working together to hit a target packed with foreigners, many of them Americans working in the military and on aid projects.
The bomb was detonated outside the US-owned hotel`s main security gate at 8pm on Saturday (midnight AEST) just after sunset, when Muslims were attending the traditional Iftar dinner in the Marriott`s banquet hall to end the daily Ramadan fast.
An eyewitness told The Australian soon afterwards that the crater caused by the explosion was "so large it looks as if it has been hit by a meteorite".
Mr Zardari sought to rally the spirits of his stunned nation as fears grew of a total onslaught by al-Qaeda and Taliban militants determined to bring down the new democratic government.
It is believed the President and the country`s civilian and military leadership were the initial target of the attack.
"The Government and the people of Pakistan cannot be terrorised by blasts and such attacks," Mr Zardari said in a nationally televised address.
"If the cowards think they can terrorise the Government and the people of Pakistan, I state we shall not retreat from fighting terrorism. We will get rid of this terrorism cancer."
