Pakistan - explosion

Car bomb blast kills 105 in Peshawar market

Article published on the 2009-10-28 Latest update 2009-10-29 17:11 TU

Men return to collect their belongings from their destroyed markets in Peshawar, 29 October 2009
(Photo: Reuters)

Three days of mourning began in Peshawar on Thursday after at least 105 people were killed by a car bomb in Pakistan's north-western city of Peshawar yesterday. Funerals will take place on Thursday and businesses will be closed as a mark of respect.

The explosion in a crowded street in the Meena Bazaar of Peshawar on Wednesday, one of the most congested parts of the north-western city, sparked a huge blaze and ended routine shopping trips for scores of people.

"We have 105 dead bodies and 217 injured people. Nineteen of the dead are women and 13 are children. All the dead are civilians," Doctor Zafar Iqbal, head of Peshawar's Lady Reading Hospital, told the AFP news agency.

Staff at the hospital declared an emergency and called for blood donors to come forward.

The blast was detonated just hours after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Pakistan to bolster the two countries' alliance against Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants.

Clinton told an Islamabad news conference that the US stands "shoulder to shoulder" with Pakistan.

Speaking from Islamabad, correspondent Rana Jawad told RFI that the violence has almost drawn attention away from Clinton’s visit.

“It does in a way but it also sends a very grim reminder to the United States government that Pakistan is in the middle of a very great battle," he said.

"Its citizens are threatened, its cities are becoming unsafe and it needs world attention and world help. It is not a country which is exporting terrorism – it is a country which is a victim of terrorism.”

Jawad said that one thing the international community can do is stop “Pakistan-bashing” and give people in the country the confidence that the world backs them in the fight against “a handful of extremist murderers” bent upon “destabilising and destroying” Pakistani society.

“We are in the middle of a war which cannot be won on the basis of financial or military power alone,” Jawad said. "The whole society has to be mobilised.”

Wednesday's attack followed an incident last Friday when at least 25 people died in northern Pakistan.