An explosive-laden truck detonated in front of the Marriott hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing 54 people and injuring 266 others.

The Islamabad Marriott Hotel bombing occurred on the night of 20 September 2008, when a dumper truck filled with explosives was detonated in front of the Marriott Hotel in the Pakistani capital Islamabad, killing at least 54 people, injuring at least 266 and leaving a 60 ft (18 m) wide, 20 ft (6.1 m) deep crater outside the hotel. The majority of the casualties were Pakistanis; at least five foreign nationals were also killed and fifteen others reported injured. The attack occurred only hours after President Asif Ali Zardari made his first speech to the Pakistani parliament. The Marriott was the most prestigious hotel in the capital, and was located near government buildings, diplomatic missions, embassies and high commissions.

Marriott International, Inc. is an American multinational company that operates, franchises, and licenses lodging brands that include hotel, residential, and timeshare properties. Marriott International owns over 37 hotel and timeshare brands with 9,000 locations and 1,597,380 rooms across its network. Marriott International is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland. The company is the successor to the hospitality division of the Marriott Corporation, founded by J. Willard Marriott (1900–1985) and his wife Alice Marriott (1907–2000).

Islamabad(; Urdu: اسلام‌آباد, romanized: Islāmābād, ; transl. 'City of Islam') is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's tenth-most populous city with a population of over 1.1 million and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital Territory. Built as a planned city in the 1960s and established in 1967, it replaced Karachi as Pakistan's national capital.