Fire breaks out at bombed Marriott Islamabad hotel

A fire has broken out at the Marriott hotel in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, five months after a suicide truck-bomber killed 55 people there.

The cause of the fire is unknown, but according to Reuters a police official and the hotel’s receptionist have confirmed that the building is on fire.

Zahid Jan, a police official in Islamabad, said: "We got a phone call that there's fire in two storeys of the hotel. We alerted the fire brigades and they have sent fire engines.”

A receptionist at the hotel said he could see smoke but declined further comment.

The hotel reopened in late December, just over three months after the September bomb attack blamed on Islamist militants.

The bombing of the group’s luxury hotel in Islamabad Pakistan killed 50 people, after the huge blast engulfed the front of the hotel and ruptured a gas line, which caused a large fire to break out.

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By Gemma Sharkey

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