An attack using a suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) was launched against Peshawar's five-star Pearl Continental Hotel June 9. Media reports estimate that at least 12 people were killed (including three foreigners) and as many as 50 wounded. But judging from the photos of the scene, the number of casualties will likely increase as authorities dig through the rubble of the hotel's west wing and recover additional bodies. Just after 10 p.m. local time, witnesses reported hearing gunfire, followed by the blast of the VBIED. As is usually the case in such attacks, the reports on the exact sequence of events have been conflicting. However, the VBIED was able to get past the vehicle checkpoint and gain entrance to the compound, lending credence to reports indicating that the guards at the checkpoint were engaged with small arms fire and the explosives-laden truck was able to get through the checkpoint and pull around to the back of the west wing of the hotel before exploding. From a tactical standpoint, this attack was very similar to the recent bombing attacks against the ISI office in Lahore on May 27 and the bombing of the Marriott in Islamabad on Sept. 20, 2008. But, unlike those two attacks, the attack team was able to overcome the security measures and deliver the VBIED next to the targeted building. The amount of explosives used in this attack was only a fraction of the amount used in the Marriott attack. The crater in the Marriott attack was over 30 feet deep and some 60 feet across, compared to an initial report of a crater that is six feet deep and 15 feet across at the Pearl Continental. Since the attack team was able to defeat security at the perimeter, a device the size of the one used in the Marriott bombing would have been structurally devastating to the Pearl Continental and far more deadly. Incidentally, the Pearl Continental in Peshawar has significantly more standoff distance than the Marriott in Islamabad. That means that had security measures operated as designed (as they did in the Marriott case), the damage to the hotel would have been minimal and the death toll far lower. The time of the attack is also of interest. Attacking a hotel in the evening hours means that there is going to be the maximum number of people located in the building. Not only will most of the guests be back from their daytime meetings, but outsiders often come to hotels for social functions in the evening. If the attackers had waited until the middle of the night to attack, all the people socializing at the hotel in the evening would have left. The Marriott bombing also occurred in the evening, at about 8 p.m. In many past hotel attacks, in locations ranging from Jakarta to Taba,VBIEDs have been driven into the front entrance of the hotel. This was not the case at the Pearl Continental, and in fact, the driver actually drove past the front entrance to get to the spot where the VBIED was detonated. From the location of the seat of the blast, which was in the parking lot on the west side of the building behind the front wing, it appears that either the driver of the VBIED did not intend to target the front entrance of the hotel, or he somehow could not negotiate the right-hand turn required to bring the vehicle in front of that entrance. (Remember that in Pakistan, like in the United Kingdom, vehicles obey left-hand traffic and therefore the truck would have entered using the left-hand entrance and lane of the driveway. This would have required a 90-degree right turn to get to the front entrance.) However, the truck that was reportedly used in the Pearl Continental, a Hyundai Shehzore, is fairly maneuverable compared to the large truck used in the Marriott attack, and the Shehzore probably could have negotiated such a turn. This raises the possibility that the location of the blast could have been intentional and that there was someone staying in a room on that side of that wing that the attackers wanted to target. Remember that many corporate and government overseas travelers are advised to avoid taking rooms at the front of the hotel, precisely because of past VBIED attacks. This could also have been an effort to counter that advice and go after more international travelers. It will be interesting to watch the victims to see if there was such a high-value target among those killed. Another possibility is that the attacker just took the path of least resistance and simply intended to detonate the vehicle as soon as he got in close proximity to the building with no specific part of the building in mind. There are also unconfirmed reports that the truck dropped off a team of gunmen who attempted to storm the building, but it is unclear how successful they were if these reports are true. Pakistani police gather at the Pearl Continental Hotel in Peshawar after a bomb blast June 9 Another factor to consider is that the attackers were able to assemble the VBIED and transport it to the attack site (which is within a high security zone and is located next to residence of the commander of Peshawar-based XIth Corps — the Pakistani Army unit playing the lead role in the region) without being detected despite heightened security in Pakistan and authorities specifically on the lookout for VBIEDs. This indicates that either the group did an outstanding job of surveillance and knew precisely where the government checkpoints were going to be between their safe house and the target — or they had an inside source that provided that information to them. There are also reports that the attackers were disguised as deliverymen, which may also have helped them move through the city. In the final analysis, either the attackers did a better job planning and executing this attack than they have other recent attacks, the security forces assigned to the hotel failed miserably, or the attackers had some degree inside assistance — or a combination of the three. In any event, the VBIED got to the target and past the security measures designed specifically to thwart such attacks.