Pakistani tweets make sense of bomb blast at 5-star hotel in Peshawar

Posted by Craig Kanalley on 6/09/09 • Categorized as Asia, Terrorism

Per Al-Jazeera, at least 12 people died and 46 were wounded after a bomb attack today on the 5-star Pearl Continental Hotel in Peshawar, Pakistan. Two foreigners died in the incident, called a suicide attack by officials. Peshawar is the site of recent battles between government forces and the Taliban.

Local Twitterers @bilish and @En02 were the first to tweet about the blast, long before most media reports.

bilish (Pakistan) Heard the loudest blast ever.. Not very far away from my place… #Peshawar Neighbor heard firing before the blast… 09 Jun 2009 from TweetDeck

En02 (Peshawar, Pakistan) Blast in #Peshawar. And it has my fucking window inside my room. 09 Jun 2009 from web

Both Twitterers added context and feelings following the blast.

bilish (Pakistan) It is Pearl Continental Hotel #Peshawar Guess what it is next to the Core Commander residence (GEO TV) 09 Jun 2009 from TweetDeck

bilish (Pakistan) @armedandstupid It is painful. More tears and more violence :( 09 Jun 2009 from TweetDeck in reply to armedandstupid

bilish (Pakistan) RT @faisalkapadia: And while ppl die in a suicide attack on pc in #peshawar the president is going on another foreign tour..wah! 09 Jun 2009 from TweetDeck

En02 (Peshawar, Pakistan) @triciaCNN The door and windows started bursting in, my first reaction was that its an earthquake, but the ground was still. 09 Jun 2009 from web

En02 (Peshawar, akistan) @triciaCNN Then my window fell in, and the whole house was full of dust. 09 Jun 2009 from web

Others in Pakistan, including Breaking Tweets Contributing Editor David Mac Dougall, added additional context and reaction.

davidmacdougall (Islamabad, Pakistan) PAKISTAN: Here we go again. Big explosion at main hotel in Peshawar, Pearl Continental. 09 Jun 2009 from web

davidmacdougall (Islamabad, Pakistan) PAKISTAN: Looks like bomber got into Pearl Continental lobby. Hotel sits back off the road, lots of security – but it only takes 1 bomber… 09 Jun 2009 from web

ReallyVirtual (Lahore, Pakistan) the power went off a few mins after the bomb blast – I hope lesco isn’t trying to cover up blast news :-/ 09 Jun 2009 from TwitterFox

davidmacdougall (Islamabad, Pakistan) PAKISTAN: So many conflicting stories. Difficult to see the forest for the trees sometimes dealing with breaking news here. 09 Jun 2009 from web

davidmacdougall (Islamabad, Pakistan) PAKISTAN: Several international airlines (Gulf) fly to Peshawar. Apparently some foreign flight crew wounded in hotel attack. 09 Jun 2009 from web

faisalkapadia (Karachi, Pakistan) Car used in blast found on 4th floor this is how intense the explosion was #peshawar pc attack no lights yet its been 2 hrs 09 Jun 2009 from UberTwitter

faisalkapadia (Karachi, Pakistan) Stay away from hotels my friends be vigilant this can happen anywhere in #pakistan pls stay safe gnight 09 Jun 2009 from UberTwitter