The posh Marriott Hotel, a favourite hub of Westerners in Pakistan’s capital city, has been targeted for the second time in over a year, the last attack coming on a day when the Indian High Commissioner was to host a reception in the hotel.

On January 26 last year, a suicide bomber tried to storm the building situated in the heart of the city but had to detonate his explosives at the entrance when he was stopped by an alert security guard.

The explosion killed the bomber and the securityman besides injuring seven others. Indian High Commissioner Satyabrata Pal went ahead with the plans to hold a reception on the same evening to mark Republic Day.

Previously, the Islamabad Marriott Hotel, seen as a US symbol, saw a major explosion in October 2004. Eight people,including one US diplomat and two hotel employees, were wounded in the blast. Following the blast, the US

Embassy had asked diplomats and travellers not to visit the hotel. The Marriott is a popular haunt of Islamabad's Western expatriates. Its nightclub has one of very few licensed bars in Pakistan,only open to foreigners.

Another facility of the American hotel chain was targeted in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta on August 5, 2003. A suicide bomber detonated a car bomb outside the lobby of the hotel, killing 12 people and injuring 150 others.

Marriott International has about 3,000 lodging properties located in the United States and 67 other countries, including India.

Recent blasts in pakistan

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