ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, September 20, SPA -- A massive truck bomb devastatedthe heavily guarded Marriott Hotel in Pakistan's capitalSaturday, engulfing the building in flames, killing atleast 40 people and wounding at least 100, AP reported The blast left a vast crater, some 10 meters (30 feet)deep in front of the main building, where flames pouredfrom the windows and rescuers ferried a stream of bloodiedbodies from the gutted building. Police sought in vain to shoo away bystanders andreporters for fear of gas leaks and that the building mightcollapse. President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf RazaGilani strongly condemned the attack in a statement. «This is terrorism and we have to fight it together as anation,» Rehman Malik, the head of Pakistan's InteriorMinistry, told reporters at a hospital overflowing with thewounded. Witnesses and officials said a large truck rammed the highmetal gate of the hotel at about 8 p.m. (1400 GMT), whenthe restaurants would have been packed with diners,including Muslims breaking the Ramadan fast. Senior police official Asghar Raza Gardaizi said rescuershad counted at least 40 bodies at the scene and he fearedthat there «dozens more dead inside.» --SPA www.spa.gov.sa/591766