On Sunday, the governments of the US and UK warned that their officials could be attacked at a popular hotel in Pakistan during the holiday season. In an advisory, the US embassy in Islamabad told its staff that they couldn’t go to the Pakistani capital’s Marriott Hotel because of security concerns.

The alert came from the embassy, which said, “We have heard that unknown people may be planning to attack Americans at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad during the holidays.” “As of right now, all American staff at the Embassy in Islamabad are not allowed to go to the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad.”

The embassy also told its staff that they shouldn’t do any unofficial travel in Islamabad that wasn’t necessary during the holiday season. “…because of security concerns, Islamabad has been put on a Red Alert, and all public gatherings have been banned. The embassy is asking all Mission personnel to avoid non-essential, unofficial travel in Islamabad during the holiday season,” the alert said.

The US and UK governments gave the order two days after militants who were thought to be about to do a suicide bombing in Islamabad’s government district blew themselves up while being chased by police, killing one officer.

The vehicle was going to a high-value target in the capital, according to Pakistan’s Interior Ministry. The car blew up near the police headquarters on a main road that leads to a government area with parliament and the offices of high-ranking officials.

The car bombing was blamed on the Pakistani Taliban, who said it was done to get back at the people who killed one of their leaders. The militant group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which is made up of Sunni Islamist and sectarian groups, said in a statement, “We take responsibility for the suicide attack against the enemy of Islam.”

Since then, the government of Islamabad has put the city on high alert and banned public gatherings and processions, even though campaigns for upcoming local elections are still going on. The police are doing more patrols and have set up checkpoints to check on cars all over the city.

In September 2008, the Marriott Hotel in the capital was the target of a suicide bombing that was one of the deadliest of its kind in the capital. Attackers drove a dump truck up to the hotel’s gates and blew it up, killing 63 people and hurting more than 250 others.

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