Islamabad — Pakistan promised months of intensive military operations against militants yesterday following the devastating bomb attack on an Islamabad hotel.

The governor of the troubled North West Frontier Province, Owais Ghani, said that operations will continue at least for the next five months.

Pakistan’s army is in the midst of an offensive against militants in the Bajaur region on the Afghan border, where the government claims it has killed more than 700 fighters in the past month.

America has intensified attacks on militants on the Pakistani side of the border, infuriating the Pakistani army. A security official said troops had fired at two American helicopters that intruded into Pakistani air space on Sunday night, forcing them back to Afghanistan.

A suicide bomber rammed a truck packed with more than half a ton of explosives into the outer security gates of the luxury Marriott hotel on Saturday night, killing at least 53 people and wounding more than 260.

Conflicting reports emerged over a senior official’s claim that Pakistan’s president and prime minister were to have had dinner at the hotel when it was bombed.

The head of the interior ministry, Rehman Malik, claimed that the venue was changed at the last minute. “Thus the whole leadership was saved,” he said. However, Sadruddin Hashwani, the owner of the hotel, denied that there was such a dinner booking.

Speculation mounted over how the RDX and TNT explosives were procured. Some analysts pointed to a truck of explosives manufactured at the military munitions factory at Wah that went missing last month. Investigators are trying to track down an Islamabad-based Al Qaeda cell believed to have carried out the bombing, according to security officials.

Officials from embassies and the United Nations held meetings to discuss whether or not to withdraw non-essential staff and families. British Airways announced that it was suspending all flights to the country amid security fears sparked by the attack.

The north-western city of Peshawar showed signs of deepening insecurity when unidentified gunmen kidnapped an Afghan diplomat after shooting dead his driver.

Pakistani and Indian troops exchanged fire across a de facto border dividing the disputed Kashmir region on Monday, wounding a Pakistani woman.