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At least 40 people have been killed and 100 others wounded after a truck-bomb attack on the Marriott Hotel in Pakistan's capital Islamabad.
Reports said a suicide bomber drove a truck packed with explosives into the entrance of the hotel.
Many foreigners stay in the hotel while visiting Pakistan and it is heavily guarded.
The blast resounded through Islamabad.
Reuters news agency reported that at least 40 people had been killed.
Police sources also said the death toll stood at 40. But there were fears the death toll could rise as many people were feared trapped in the hotel.
'Raging fires'
Kamal Hyder, Al Jazeera's correspondent reporting from Islamabad, said it is "probably the most powerful explosion [in Pakistan] in recent times".
"Fires are still raging and no one knows how many people have been kileld in the explosion."
He said ambulances were still arriving at the scene, indicating that there "must be high casualties indeed".
"Whoever is responsible for this attack chose his target carefully. A very professionaly carried out job," said Hyder.
Talat Masood, a military analyst, told Al Jazeera that the attack was "well-planned and co-ordinated".
Imran Khan, also reporting for Al Jazeera, said he had seen a number of bodies removed from the scene of the explosion and that the building was in danger of collapsing.
He said the driver of the vehicle didn't go through the security checkpoint.
"This is a massive explosion. Fire is spreading very quickly and has taken over the entire hotel," Khan said.
Soldiers killed
The Islamabad bombing came on the heels of another which left at least eight Pakistani soldiers dead in a suicide attack on a military convoy in the country's northwest tribal region.
The attack took place as the troops passed through North Waziristan on Saturday, a security official said.
"Eight soldiers have died and some 12 others were injured," the official said, adding the death toll may increase.
Al Jazeera's Hyder said many soldiers had been killed in attacks in the area before.
"This attack occurred on a stretch of road that has become known as IED-ally," he said, referring to the acronym for an improvised explosive device.
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| A blast on Friday in Quetta at a religious school killed five students [AFP] |
A large number of Arab and Central Asian fighters linked to al-Qaeda are reported to be hiding near the town of Mir Ali, the site of Saturday's attack, officials said.
Pakistan's new government has committed itself to the US-led campaign against the fighters even though the campaign is unpopular throughout the country.
A senior official in the administration of George Bush, the US president, said on Friday Pakistan was not equipped to combat the fighters.
"This is a problem that's been created in sovereign Pakistani territory and the problem is going to be solved when Pakistan has an ability to exercise control over that territory," Stephen Hadley, Bush's national security adviser, said.
"We recognise that in the short term right now there are threats emanating out of that area that threaten Pakistan, that threaten our troops in Afghanistan and potentially threaten the homeland."
Madrassa blast
Saturday's violence came a day after an explosion at an Islamic school, known as a madrassa, near the Pakistani city of Quetta, killed five students and wounded eleven others, according to Pakistani police.
"The madrassa people say that someone threw explosives into it, but we are investigating," Wazir Khan Nasir, a police official, said, referring to Friday's incident.
"We are looking into all possibilities including ... whether they were preparing some explosives," another official said.
Quetta is the capital of Baluchistan, a southwestern province bordering Afghanistan, where a large number of madrassas were set up in the 1980s to raise volunteers to fight against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in a war covertly funded by the United States and Saudi Arabia.
The Taliban came from the Baluchistan madrassas.
But Baluchistan is also fiercely independent inside Pakistan and ethnic Baluch fighters are battling Pakistani security forces for more autonomy for their region.