Suspects in Terrorist Attack on CTM3 Matt O'Bryant Arrested

From NAVY TIMES

The Associated PressPosted : Friday Oct 24, 2008 12:33:01 EDT

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Police arrested four men in connection with last month’s suicide attack on a hotel that killed 54 people, including a sailor and an airman, authorities said Friday.

The four are suspected of “indirect involvement” in the blast at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, police chief Ahmad Latif said. They are the first known arrests in the Sept. 20 attack that ended the lives of Navy Cryptologic Technician 3rd Class (Maintenance) Matthew J. O'Bryant, 22, of Duluth, Ga., and Air Force Maj. Rodolfo I. Rodriguez, 34, of El Paso, Texas.

The attack was a reminder of the gathering threat posed by Islamist militants in nuclear-armed Pakistan. Latif said the men were arrested in different parts of Punjab province but gave no more details. They were brought before an anti-terrorism court where a judge gave police permission to hold them for questioning for one week.

Militants in Pakistan have launched more than 90 suicide attacks on civilian, military and western targets since July 2007, killing nearly 1,200 people, according to military statistics. Authorities have said they suspect the Marriott blast was carried out by terrorists based in the tribal regions near the border with Afghanistan.