Agencies
 
ISLAMABAD, Sep 20: At least 25 people were killed on Saturday in a suspected suicide car bomb attack on the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, a news channel said.

The hotel was badly damaged and caught fire after the blast, which destroyed dozens of cars outside and shattered windows and damaged buildings hundreds of metres away.

Initial reports said a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into the main gate of the hotel.

The powerful blast was heard from several kilometres away. The explosion destroyed numerous vehicles parked outside the hotel and uprooted trees.

It also sparked a fire in the hotel, which was evacuated. There were reports that Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was hosting an Iftar dinner at the nearby prime minister's secretariat. The event was attended by President Asif Ali Zardari and army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.

Ambulances rushed to the scene, where a fire also burned. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, and its exact cause was unclear. But Pakistan has faced a wave of militant violence in recent weeks following army-led offensives against insurgents in its border regions.

Mohammad Sultan, a hotel employee, said he was in the lobby when something exploded, he fell down, and everything temporarily went dark.

"I don't understand what it was but it was like the world is finished," he said.