A handful of foreigners, private security consultants and emergency evacuation experts, discreetly survey the building from a distance and take pictures for their files. “This reminds me of any of those huge buildings in Kabul bombed during the war,” one of them says, speaking on condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to the media. The Islamabad Marriott, he says, was one of the best guarded hotels in this part of the world as it had been targeted at least twice earlier in recent years.

It had a large team of guards and every vehicle was searched thoroughly, including the underside through a hi-tech scanning system. Roadblockers could stop a vehicle weighing about 10-12 tons and closed circuit TV cameras captured the number plate and the driver’s face while records of those entering were preserved for a month. “The system worked and the truck could not get inside and most of those killed are security guards,” said the expert. “Otherwise the death toll would have been much much worse.”