* Seven dead, excluding attackers, others missing * Russian man, Philippine woman working for U.N. dead * U.N. Secretary-General Ban condemns attack By Robert Birsel PESHAWAR, Pakistan, June 10 (Reuters) - Rescuers scoured the wreckage of Peshawar's top hotel for victims on Wednesday after a suicide bomb killed at least seven people, the latest militant attack retaliating for a Pakistani army offensive in the Swat valley. The resolve shown by the Pakistani government and military in Swat has heartened U.S. officials, concerned their nuclear-armed ally could slide into chaos unless the Taliban's creeping advance toward Islamabad was stopped. A U.N. official said two U.N. workers, a Russian man and Philippine woman, were among those killed in the Tuesday night assault on the Pearl Continental, a hotel popular with VIPs and foreigners visiting the capital of North West Frontier Province. Taliban militants have stepped up attacks in cities since the army launched a campaign in April to clear Islamist fighters from a stronghold in Swat and other parts of northwest Pakistan. "We have the death toll of seven people killed in the blast including four whose bodies were recovered today," city police chief Sifwat Ghayyur, the head of the investigation, told Reuters. The toll excludes dead militants and people still missing in the ruined hotel. The force of the blast blew out all its windows, and caused several concrete walls and a section of floors to collapse on the hotel's front side. Senior police official Abdul Gafoor Afridi said 64 people were wounded. Hospital workers said many suffered multiple injuries. Militants had shot their way into the Peshawar hotel forecourt and exploded a truck bomb in front of the lobby, evoking nightmarish memories of the attack on the Marriott hotel in Islamabad last September that killed 55 people. "I was in the Chinese restaurant when we heard firing and then a blast. It was totally dark and people started shouting and running," hotel waiter Ali Khan told Reuters. Police said the bomb contained 500 kg (1,100 lb) of explosives, a similar size to the bomb at the Marriott which killed 55 people. The mangled truck used in the attack could be seen several feet away from the crater caused by the explosion. There was no claim of responsibility, but the Taliban have warned of retaliation because of the Swat offensive, and there has been a new trend in militant tactics towards using gunmen in support of a suicide bomber. There are expectations the army will turn its attention to other Taliban strongholds, like the South Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan, once Swat has been dealt with. Those areas have provided important refuge for Taliban fighters who have been ramping up their insurgency in Afghanistan. U.N. CONDEMNATION The government's military effort has been helped by a shift in public opinion in support of the use of force. That support might ebb if the welfare of some 2.5 million people displaced by the conflict in the northwest is mishandled. U.S. officials are rallying international support to help Pakistan cope with the humanitarian crisis. [ID:nN08349998] The military says troops have cleared most of Swat, but soldiers are encountering pockets of resistance. In all, the army says more than 1,300 militants and 105 soldiers have been killed in the offensive. There has been no independent confirmation of the figures. The United Nations is heavily involved in providing relief for the people who have fled their homes to escape the conflict in Swat, and about a dozen U.N. staff were staying at the hotel. A German woman also working for the U.N. children's fund, and a British and a Nigerian man were wounded, according to top city administrator Sahibzada Anis. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the attack. "Once again, a dedicated staff member of the United Nations is among the victims of a heinous terrorist attack which no cause can justify," Ban's press office said in a statement issued before confirmation fo the second U.N. death. The hotel manager was among the missing, according to Jameel Khawar, a spokesman for the Pearl Continental. Less than a third of the hotel's 150 rooms were occupied. While rescuers searched the ruined hotel, a bomb disposal squad on Wednesday sifted through the site of the blast, which destroyed dozens of cars parked in the forecourt.
Men stand amidst debris at the Pearl Continental Hotel June 10, 2009, hours after a truck bomb exploded in its parking lot in Pakistan's northwest city Peshawar. Militants attacked a hotel ...
