A suspected suicide attack caused a large explosion outside the Marriott Hotel in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on September 20, leaving the structure in flames. The bomb attack came just hours after President Asif Ali Zardari delivered his first address to parliament since being sworn in on September 9.
Here is a chronology of some of the major bomb attacks of the last six months:
July 14, 2007 -- Suicide car-bomber kills 24 paramilitary soldiers and wounds 29 in North Waziristan.
July 15 -- Sixteen people, most of them paramilitary soldiers, are killed in an ambush while on patrol in the Swat valley in North West Frontier Province (NWFP). Separately, a suicide bomber targets a police recruiting centre in Dera Ismail Khan in NWFP, killing 29.
July 17 -- Suicide bomber kills 16 people outside a court in Islamabad, where country's suspended chief justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry, was due to speak.
July 19 -- Three suicide attacks in a single day in three towns kill at least 52 people.
July 27 -- Suicide bomb attack in a restaurant near Islamabad's Red Mosque kills 13 people, most of them policemen.
Sept. 4 -- Two suicide bombers kill 25 in Rawalpindi.
Sept. 11 -- Suicide bomber kills 16 people in northwest Dera Ismail Khan.
Sept. 13 -- At least 15 soldiers killed in suicide bombing in an army canteen near Islamabad.
Oct. 19 -- At least 139 people killed in suicide bomb attack on Benazir Bhutto's motorcade as she is driven through Karachi after arriving home from eight years of exile. The attack is one of the deadliest in Pakistan's history.
Oct. 25 -- Suspected suicide bomber kills 21 people, including 17 soldiers, in an attack on an army convoy in the northwestern Swat valley.
Nov. 24 -- Twin suicide car bomb attacks kill 15 people in Rawalpindi, on the eve of the return of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif from exile in Saudi Arabia.
Dec. 17 -- A suicide bomber kills 10 military recruits in the northwestern town of Kohat.
Dec. 21 -- A suicide bomber kills at least 41 people in a mosque in northwest Pakistan during Eid festival prayers.
Dec. 27 -- Benazir Bhutto is killed in a gun and bomb attack after a rally in Rawalpindi. At least 16 others are killed in the attack. Dec 31 - Violence flares as angry supporters of Bhutto take to the streets. The death toll of people killed in riots reaches 47.
2008
Jan. 7 -- Al Qaeda-linked militants in northwest Pakistan attack two offices of a government-sponsored peace movement and kill eight people.
Jan. 10 -- A suicide bomber walks up to policemen stationed outside the High Court in Lahore and set off explosives. Nineteen people are killed, 16 policemen and 3 passers-by.
Jan. 14 -- Nine people are killed in a roadside bomb attack in a low-income neighbourhood of Karachi.
Jan. 17 -- A teenager blows himself up in a Shi'ite Muslim prayer hall in Peshawar. At least nine people are killed and 25 are wounded.
Sept. 20 -- A suspected suicide attack caused a huge explosion outside the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, witnesses and police said.
-- Reuters
Here is a chronology of some of the major bomb attacks of the last six months:
July 14, 2007 -- Suicide car-bomber kills 24 paramilitary soldiers and wounds 29 in North Waziristan.
July 15 -- Sixteen people, most of them paramilitary soldiers, are killed in an ambush while on patrol in the Swat valley in North West Frontier Province (NWFP). Separately, a suicide bomber targets a police recruiting centre in Dera Ismail Khan in NWFP, killing 29.
July 17 -- Suicide bomber kills 16 people outside a court in Islamabad, where country's suspended chief justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry, was due to speak.
July 19 -- Three suicide attacks in a single day in three towns kill at least 52 people.
July 27 -- Suicide bomb attack in a restaurant near Islamabad's Red Mosque kills 13 people, most of them policemen.
Sept. 4 -- Two suicide bombers kill 25 in Rawalpindi.
Sept. 11 -- Suicide bomber kills 16 people in northwest Dera Ismail Khan.
Sept. 13 -- At least 15 soldiers killed in suicide bombing in an army canteen near Islamabad.
Oct. 19 -- At least 139 people killed in suicide bomb attack on Benazir Bhutto's motorcade as she is driven through Karachi after arriving home from eight years of exile. The attack is one of the deadliest in Pakistan's history.
Oct. 25 -- Suspected suicide bomber kills 21 people, including 17 soldiers, in an attack on an army convoy in the northwestern Swat valley.
Nov. 24 -- Twin suicide car bomb attacks kill 15 people in Rawalpindi, on the eve of the return of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif from exile in Saudi Arabia.
Dec. 17 -- A suicide bomber kills 10 military recruits in the northwestern town of Kohat.
Dec. 21 -- A suicide bomber kills at least 41 people in a mosque in northwest Pakistan during Eid festival prayers.
Dec. 27 -- Benazir Bhutto is killed in a gun and bomb attack after a rally in Rawalpindi. At least 16 others are killed in the attack. Dec 31 - Violence flares as angry supporters of Bhutto take to the streets. The death toll of people killed in riots reaches 47.
2008
Jan. 7 -- Al Qaeda-linked militants in northwest Pakistan attack two offices of a government-sponsored peace movement and kill eight people.
Jan. 10 -- A suicide bomber walks up to policemen stationed outside the High Court in Lahore and set off explosives. Nineteen people are killed, 16 policemen and 3 passers-by.
Jan. 14 -- Nine people are killed in a roadside bomb attack in a low-income neighbourhood of Karachi.
Jan. 17 -- A teenager blows himself up in a Shi'ite Muslim prayer hall in Peshawar. At least nine people are killed and 25 are wounded.
Sept. 20 -- A suspected suicide attack caused a huge explosion outside the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, witnesses and police said.
-- Reuters