The hotel, a favorite spot for foreigners and the Pakistani elite - and a past target of militants - still smoldered from a fire that raged for hours after the previous day's explosion, which also wounded more than 250 people.
The targeting of the American hotel chain came at a time of growing anger in the Muslim nation over a wave of cross-border strikes on militant bases in Pakistan by U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the blast, though suspicion fell on Al Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban. Analysts said the attack served as a warning from Islamic militants to Pakistan's new civilian leadership to stop cooperating with the U.S.-led fight against terrorism.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said the bomber had attacked the hotel only after tight security prevented him from reaching Parliament or the prime minister's office, where the president and many dignitaries were gathered for dinner.
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"The purpose was to destabilize democracy," Gilani said. "They want to destroy us economically."
However, the owner of the hotel accused security forces of a serious lapse in allowing a dump truck to approach the hotel unchallenged and not shooting the driver before he could trigger the explosives.
"If I were there and had seen the suicide bomber, I would have killed him. Unfortunately, they didn't," Sadruddin Hashwani said.
Officials said vehicles carrying construction materials are allowed to move after sunset, meaning the sight of a dump truck near the government quarters might not have aroused suspicion.
Rescue teams searched the blackened hotel room by room Sunday. But the temperatures remained high, and fires were still being put out in some parts. Officials said the main building could still collapse.
Khalid Hussain Abbasi, a rescue official, confirmed that six new bodies had been found. He said he expected more charred remains to be discovered.
Gilani said the death toll had reached "about 53" and that the Czech ambassador, Ivo Zdarek, was among the dead. Zdarek, 47, moved to Islamabad in August after four years as ambassador to Vietnam.
At least one American also died in the attack, according to the U.S. State Department. Officials in Pakistan said at least 21 foreigners were among the wounded, including Britons, Germans, Americans and several people from the Middle East.
The FBI offered to send special agents to help investigate, said a senior U.S. official, who declined to be identified because of the nature of the matter. The FBI is awaiting approval from the Pakistani government, the official said.
Television footage showed at least two bodies partially visible from the wrecked facade Sunday morning. Outside, the hotel was surrounded by burned vehicles and debris.
The bomb went off close to 8 p.m. on Saturday, when the restaurants inside would have been packed with Muslim diners breaking their daily fast during the holy month of Ramadan.
The blast left a vast crater some 10 meters, or thirty feet, deep in front of the main building, and investigators on Sunday combed the gaping hole for evidence. The bombing came just hours after President Asif Ali Zardari made his first address to Parliament, just over a kilometer, or about a half mile, away from the hotel.
Witnesses and officials said the dump truck exploded about 18 meters away from the hotel at two heavy metal barriers blocking the entrance. The explosion reverberated throughout Islamabad and shattered windows hundreds of meters away.
Zahid Ahmed, a businessman who rushed to the blast site from a nearby neighborhood, was standing near the wreckage of mangled cars across the road. "I saw dozens of casualties," he said. "People were trying to help, but it was such a depressing sight that I cannot describe it," he said, shaking his head.
The minister of the Interior, Rehman Malik, said it was unclear who was behind the attack. But the authorities had received intelligence that there might be militant activity linked to Zardari's address to Parliament, and security had been tightened, he said.
President George W. Bush said the attack was "a reminder of the ongoing threat faced by Pakistan, the United States and all those who stand against violent extremism."
A recent series of suspected U.S. missile strikes and a rare American ground assault in Pakistan's northwest have signaled Washington's impatience with Pakistan's efforts to clear out militants. But the cross-border operations have drawn protests from the Pakistani government, which warned they would fan militancy.
A terrorism expert, Evan Kohlmann, said the attack was almost certainly the work of either Al Qaeda or the Pakistani Taliban.
"It seems that someone has a firm belief that hotels like the Marriott are serving as 'barracks' for Western diplomats and intel personnel, and they are gunning pretty hard for them," Kohlmann said.
The Marriott blast could prompt diplomats and aid groups in Islamabad, some of whom already operate under tight security, to re-evaluate whether nonessential staff and family members should stay. UN officials met Sunday to discuss the security situation and, for now, made no decision to change their measures, said Amena Kamaal, a spokeswoman.
Zardari condemned the "cowardly attack" afterward in an address to the nation. "Make this pain your strength," he said. "This is a menace, a cancer in Pakistan which we will eliminate. We will not be scared of these cowards."
Pakistan's army chief, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, joined the chorus of condemnation Sunday, calling the attack "heinous" and saying the army stands "with the nation in its resolve to defeat the forces of extremism and terrorism."
Despite the tough talk by top officials, it was unclear what kind of response the government would mount. Pakistan has been in a state of political turmoil for months, and from Washington's perspective, at least, the new civilian government has so far shown little interest in pursuing a campaign against the militants.
The Islamabad Marriott has been attacked by militants at least twice in the past, including in a suicide attack in January 2007 that killed a policeman.
"The Marriott is an icon," said Abdullah Riar, formerly an aide to the assassinated former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, Zardari's wife. "It's like the twin towers of Pakistan. It's a symbolic place in the capital of the country, and now it has melted down."
The country's deadliest suicide bombing, on Oct. 18, 2007, targeted Bhutto, who survived. It killed about 150 people in Karachi during celebrations welcoming her home from exile. Bhutto was assassinated in a subsequent attack on Dec. 27, 2007.
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