By IANS,
Peshawar : The toll in Wednesday’s bombing in a bustling market of this Pakistani city has climbed to 105, a media report said.
The car bomb blast toll has mounted to 105, The News International reported Thursday, adding 160 people were injured in the massive explosion. Earlier reports had said that over 200 people were wounded.
Rescuers fear that more people could still be buried under the debris.
In an attack that seemed almost staged for US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s trip to Pakistan, the Taliban, which has significantly stepped up attacks in the country, struck with a powerful explosion in Peshawar, the capital of the restive North West Frontier Province.
The impact of the blast killed over 90 people, mostly women. Dozens of people were seriously injured and some died overnight.
A building in the congested locality of Meena Bazar collapsed. A mosque bore the brunt. The windows of buildings were shattered and several vehicles and around 15 shops were burnt.
The deafening explosion occurred in the market that is hugely popular with women.
Shafqatullah Malik, an official of the Bomb Disposal Unit, said explosives, weighing 150 kg, were packed into the vehicle that blew up, the media report said.
Wednesday’s terror strike came just five days after a bombing outside a restaurant in the city.
The country has been witnessing a string of terror attacks, even as the army continues to assault against the Taliban in South Waziristan.
Nearly 200 people have been killed since Oct 5 in a series of bombings and gunfights across Pakistan, including in the capital Islamabad and Lahore.