The US Embassy in Islamabad banned its American staff from visiting city’s popular Marriott Hotel, during the holidays.
“Unknown individuals are possibly plotting to attack Americans at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad sometime during the holidays,” the embassy said in a security alert. The alert also called on all American personnel to refrain from non-essential travel in the Pakistani capital in the coming days. A suicide bombing attack at the same hotel in 2008 left 63 people dead and over 250 wounded.
The warning on Sunday comes two days after a suicide bombing in a residential area of Islamabad killed a police officer and wounded ten others in an attack claimed by the Pakistani Taliban.
The city is on high alert, including increased police patrols and pop-up checkpoints, The Associated Press reported.