Islamabad —
The U.S. embassy in Pakistan warned its staff Sunday against visiting a top hotel in the capital, Islamabad, over the holidays, saying, “Unknown individuals are plotting to attack Americans.”
The warning comes amid a surge in terrorist attacks in parts of the South Asian nation, including a suicide bombing in the capital this past week that killed a police officer.
“Effective immediately, the Embassy in Islamabad is prohibiting all American staff from visiting Islamabad’s Marriott Hotel,” the U.S. diplomatic mission said in a published on its website.
It urged all American personnel to refrain from “nonessential, unofficial travel” in Islamabad during the holidays, noting that Pakistani authorities have placed the city on a “Red Alert” and banned all public gatherings due to security concerns.
On Sunday, the Pakistani military confirmed the death of five troops, including an officer, in a roadside bombing in the southwestern Baluchistan province.
Separatist ethnic Baluch insurgents claimed responsibility.
Thursday’s bomb attack in Islamabad, which wounded 10 people, was claimed by the outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as the Pakistani Taliban.
The violence prompted the administration to beef up security and increase police patrols across the city, banning political gatherings and processions.
A suicide truck bombing in September 2008 targeted the Marriott Hotel, killing 63 people and wounding more than 250 others.
The TTP, designated a global terrorist organization by the United States, has claimed responsibility for most of the attacks that killed hundreds of people — most of them security forces— in recent months in Pakistan. The group’s leadership is based in Afghanistan and so are its fighters.