Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg sharply denounced the terrorist attack in Islamabad and expressed sympathy to the victims' families, the Czech news agency CTK said on Sunday.
The attack was an attempt at destabilization of the situation in Pakistan after the recent presidential election, Schwarzenberg said.
He welcomed the Pakistani government's statement that this latest development will not weaken its resolve in fighting terrorists.
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani Sunday confirmed that the ambassador of the Czech Republic to Pakistan has been killed in Saturday's suicide bomb attack in Islamabad.
Zdarek, 47, who used to serve in Vietnam, was appointed ambassador to Pakistan last month and has been staying at the hotel, the embassy sources said.
Zdarek is probably a second Czech who has fallen victim as a civilian to a terrorist attack abroad, CTK said, adding that the first was Petr Koran, 24, who died in an attack on the Egyptian recreational area of Sharm El Sheikh in July 2005.
Schwarzenberg expressed sympathy to Zdarek's family and friends.
"His death proves that terrorists are trying to hit us at the most sensitive places. Ambassador Zdarek was courageously fulfilling all his tasks in the most complex and risky conditions.His death commits us not to leave the path, to resist the evil andto be fighting against it," he said in a written statement.
Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said on Prima television the same day that Zdarek's body will probably be transported to the Czech Republic on Monday. If this were not so, the Czech government will send a special plane to Islamabad, he added.
President Vaclav Klaus also sent condolences to Zdarek's family.
A huge truck bomb exploded at the entrance to the Marriot Hotelin the Pakistani capital of Islamabad on Saturday evening, killing53 people and injuring over 250 others. The death toll was expected to rise as some people are still trapped inside the six-story hotel.
Source:Xinhua
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