ISLAMABAD, September 21 (RIA Novosti) - The Czech ambassador to Pakistan died in a suicide bomb attack on the Marriott hotel in Pakistan's capital on Saturday that killed at least 53 people, Pakistani officials said on Sunday.

A suicide truck bomber attacked the Marriott hotel, a place favored by foreigners, on Saturday evening, starting a fire that swept through the building. The attack occurred just hours after Pakistan's new President Asif Ali Zardari pledged tough measures to root out terrorism.

The Foreign Ministry of the Czech Republic reported earlier on Sunday that Ivo Zdarek was inside the hotel at the moment of the blast.

The blast destroyed the entire front section of the hotel and left a crater of up to 6 meters (20 feet) in front of the hotel's gates.

No organization has yet claimed responsibility for the deadly blast, although the terrorist group Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants are suspected of carrying out the suicide bomb attack.