Pakistan hotel bomb suspects held, await charges

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-11-05 10:31

ISLAMABAD -- Four suspects in the suicide attack on Islamabad's Marriott hotel were sent back to jail by an anti-terrorism court to await charges likely to be brought later this month, police said after a hearing ended on Tuesday.

Investigators survey the destroyed Marriott hotel site in Islamabad September 23, 2008. [Agencies]

Fifty-five people were killed when an explosive-packed truck blew up outside the hotel in the heart of the capital in an attack on September 20 that authorities suspected was carried out by Islamist militants with ties to al Qaeda.

The four men, including a doctor and a lawyer, were first brought to court in late October, having been arrested at different locations earlier that month.

Handcuffed and chained to policemen with their faces covered with hoods, the suspects were not allowed to speak to any one during Tuesday's hearing.

"We have completed our investigation and the court has now sent the four men to jail on judicial remand," senior police officer Altaf Ali Khattak said.

Another police official said the suspects would reappear in court on November 18, when they are likely to be charged.

Security in Pakistan has deteriorated sharply over recent months, raising concerns about the stability of the nuclear-armed US ally.

The military has launched offensives in tribal regions in the northwest. Militants have retaliated with attacks, including suicide bombings, in cities.

On Tuesday, a suicide bomber killed a soldier and wounded nine in an attack in the northwestern town of Doaba.