Car Bomb Kills 90 in Pakistan Hours After Clinton Arrives

david-sessions

David Sessions

Washington Reporter
Posted:
10/28/09
A car bomb exploded in the old-town section of Peshawar, Pakistan, killing at least 90 and injuring approximately 160 others, the New York Times reports. The blast hit just three hours after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Islamabad, a 90-minute drive away. Many of the dead and injured were women shopping in the town's market.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the attacks are likely the work of Pakistani militants responding to a campaign against them in their stronghold along the Afghan border. The campaign has already sparked other attacks, but Wednesday's was the deadliest so far. Clinton was in a closed-door meeting with senior Pakistani officials when the bomb hit.

"If the people behind these attacks were so sure of their beliefs, let them join the political process," she told reporters afterward. "They know they are on the losing side of history. But they are determined to take as many lives with them as their movement is finally exposed for the nihilistic, empty effort it is."