Pakistani workers repair telephone cables in front of the devastated Marriott Hotel in Islamabad yesterday, three days after a suicide attack. British Airways has cancelled all flights to the Pakistani capital Islamabad for an indefinite period amid security concerns after the bombing of the Marriott hotel, the airline said. Photo: AFP

The United States vowed Monday to step up efforts to help Pakistan in a long fight against South Asian extremism following a massive hotel bombing in Islamabad that killed scores of people.
"This is a long-term process ... to root out extremism in this part of the world. It's going to take time, but we're going to be persistent in our efforts," State Department spokesman Robert Wood said.
"We've pledged our cooperation to Pakistan and to the government of Afghanistan to do what we can to help," he said.
"We are going to redouble our efforts to try to counter this extremism that threatens stability in the region."
At least 60 people were killed, including two Americans, the Czech ambassador and a Vietnamese woman, on Saturday when a suicide bomber rammed a truck packed with explosives into the security gates of the Marriott Hotel in the Pakistani capital Islamabad. More than 260 people were wounded.
A contractor for the US State Department was unaccounted for following the hotel bombing, Wood said, but he was unable to provide details as to the missing contractor's nationality.
"If you look at what happened on Saturday, this is an example of why we, the Pakistanis, the Afghans, need to work and redouble our efforts to counter extremism in this region," Wood said.
"We'll continue to work with the Pakistanis on trying to deal with the Taliban and al-Qaeda threat, not only in the tribal areas, but over in Afghanistan," he told reporters.
Calling the hotel bombing Pakistan's 9/11, Wood insisted that Washington was not rethinking its relationship with Islamabad or questioning the Pakistani government's commitment to fight terrorism in the volatile south Asia region.
"The Pakistanis have told us that they are committed to this fight, and it's clearly in our national interest to help the Pakistanis pursue the Taliban and al-Qaeda extremists," Wood said.