Change in plans reportedly saved Pakistani leaders

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan  – Pakistan’s top leaders were to dine at the Marriott devastated by a truck bombing over the weekend, but changed the venue at the last minute, a senior official said Monday.

A hotel official, however, denied there were any plans for a government dinner.

The blast in capital Islamabad killed at least 53 people and underscored the extremist challenge facing nuclear-armed Pakistan. Two intelligence officials said Pakistani troops and tribesmen opened fire on two U.S. helicopters after they crossed from Afghanistan into the northwest tribal region, where Taliban and al-Qaida militants are operating.

In a further sign of the country’s deteriorating security situation Monday, gunmen kidnapped Afghanistan’s ambassador-designate and killed his driver in the main northwestern city of Peshawar, said a spokesman for the mission in the city.

Abdul Khaliq Farahi was abducted as he traveled toward his home in the city, said the spokesman, Mohammed Zahir Babri. He gave no more details, but the kidnapping and killing were also confirmed by the Afghan charge d’affairs in Islamabad, Majnoon Gulab.

Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik did not specify why the prime minister and president decided to move the dinner from the Marriott to the premier’s house but said the decision was kept secret.

“Perhaps the terrorists knew that the Marriott was the venue of the dinner for all the leadership where the president, prime minister, speaker and all entire leadership would be present,” he told reporters. “At the eleventh hour, the president and prime minister decided that the venue would be the prime minister’s house. It saved the entire leadership.”