TV footage of Marriott bombing released

Islamabad: Video footage was released yesterday showing the last moments before a truck laden with 600 kilograms of explosives blew up outside Islamabad's Marriott Hotel, killing at least 53 people and wounding more than 260.

"The truck was stopped at the barrier and there was an altercation between the attacker and the guards," said Rehman Malek, the top official in the Interior Ministry, which released the images, said.

"A doctor was on an emergency call and was standing behind the truck. He asked the guards to remove the truck so that he could drive in to attend a patient," he added. Sniffer dogs then detected something wrong and guards shouted to people to run.

The footage showed the truck driver tried to ram the retractable metal barrier and bar at the security checkpoint at the entrance to the hotel's forecourt and parking area.

Some accounts given earlier had suggested that there had been an exchange of fire between the truck driver and the security guards on duty, but that wasn't clearly evident from the closed circuit television images.

Most of the guards retreated when the truck tried to ram the barrier.