09-26-2008, 02:42 AM
[center]<b><span style='font-size:21pt;line-height:100%'>US suspends consular services in Pakistan</span></b>[/center]
<b>WASHINGTON : The United States has suspended visa services at consular offices in Pakistan citing deepening concerns over security in the wake of the deadly bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, the State Department said.</b>
"Consular services have been temporarily suspended as of today (Thursday)," State Department spokesman Robert Wood said.
"We are very concerned about the security situation. We had the attack on the Marriott Hotel almost a week ago, and it's of great concern," he said.
A suicide bomber rammed a truck packed with more than half a tonne of explosives into the security gates of the Marriott Hotel in the Pakistani capital on Saturday, killing at least 60 people, including two US military personnel assigned to the US embassy and the Czech ambassador to Pakistan.
More than 250 people were wounded in the blast.
Wood stressed that the suspension of consular services was only temporary and would not affect emergency services for US citizens in Pakistan.
<b>US consular offices in Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Islamabad were affected by the suspension.</b>
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