A massive suicide truck bomb ripped through a luxury hotel in the Pakistani capital Saturday night, killing at least 60 people and wounding more than 250 as the building was engulfed in flames, officials said.
Witnesses and officials said the bomber drove up to one side of the heavily guarded hotel and detonated more than a ton of explosives, leaving a 30-foot-deep crater. Television footage of the Islamabad Marriott Hotel, located just blocks from major government buildings, showed smoke billowing and flames leaping from windows as bloodied survivors staggered out of the lobby.
Police said that many people had been trapped inside and that the death toll would probably rise. Officials said some of the victims were foreigners, including at least one American. Marriott said in a statement that several hotel security guards who had gone out to examine the truck were among the dead.
The bombing occurred just hours after the new president of this nation of 160 million delivered his first speech to Parliament and vowed to free Pakistan from the "shackles of terrorism."
Asif Ali Zardari and his government face a rapidly growing threat from Islamist extremists, especially in the northwest border regions near Afghanistan. The Pakistani army has recently staged several major military operations in that area, and extremist groups have vowed to retaliate.
Iraqi journalism leader survives assassination attempt
The head of Iraq's journalists' union survived an assassination attempt Saturday when a bomb exploded outside the organization's office in Baghdad, the latest in a long string of assaults on Iraqi media employees.
The target, Muaid Lami, was hospitalized with arm and chest wounds, according to police and to a colleague. The blast also wounded five other people, who were near the offices of the union, known as the Iraqi Journalists' Syndicate, in western Baghdad. Journalists in Iraq are the world's most targeted media workers; at least 135 journalists, including 113 Iraqis, and 51 media workers, including drivers and translators, have been killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion of March 2003, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. So far this year, 10 journalists have been killed in Iraq. A week ago, a correspondent and two cameramen working for the independent TV station Sharqiya were abducted along with their driver as they filmed a reality TV show in the northern city of Mosul. They were found shot to death shortly afterward. Earlier this month, the Baghdad bureau chief for another Iraqi TV station escaped assassination when a bomb planted inside his vehicle was spotted before it went off. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki issued a statement condemning the Sharqiya employees' murders, but his government has adapted laws that fly in the face of press freedoms. In May 2007, it declared bomb sites off-limits to press photographers, saying they might destroy forensic evidence. Media advocates said the law was intended to prevent negative images of Iraq from being circulated.
McCain raises $8.8 million in two days after Palin pick
John McCain raised more than $8.8 million in the two days after he announced Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin would join him as his running mate on the Republican ticket-his biggest two-day haul of the long-running presidential campaign. The Republican National Committee collected $4.5 million the day McCain selected Palin, newly filed Federal Election Commission reports show.
McCain's decision to tap the then-little-known politician excited the Republican rank-and-file, helping him raise about $2.1 million in increments of less than $1,000 in two days.
Altogether, McCain raised $6.8 million on Aug. 30, the day after the Palin announcement, and $2 million the next day.
Until then, McCain had never topped $2 million in a single day in this presidential campaign, the Federal Election Commission data shows.
McCain raised $47.5 million in August, his most successful month. He also spent $40.5 million, including $18.1 million for advertising and $5.4 million for mailings.
Obama's campaign aides have said the Democrat raised $66 million in August, another record for the candidat
e who has continued to break his own fundraising records.
Obama has raised more than $450 million since the campaign began, double McCain's sum. But the Arizona Republican is using the Republican Party as an equalizer.
The Republican National Committee ended August with $76.5 million in the bank, compared with the Democratic National Committee's $17.7 million.
California was McCain's biggest source of money, $3.36 million, followed by Texas at $3.32 million. Californians also provided the most money to the Republican National Committee, $1.8 million, followed by Texans at $1.4 million.
With the two presidential campaigns trading charges about which candidate is most beholden to Wall Street, the focus has turned to their donations.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
