UN raises Pakistan security level after hotel bomb [October 02 2008]

The United Nations raised its security level for the Pakistani capital after the Sept. 20 truck bombing of Islamabad's Marriott Hotel, U.N. officials said Thursday.

The move underlines the deteriorating situation in Pakistan, which is under intense U.S. pressure to combat Islamic militants behind rising attacks at home and in neighboring Afghanistan. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon approved the move after the world body's agencies in Islamabad recommended it earlier this week. They said it also applied to the neighboring city of Rawalpindi and areas near the Afghan border.