Powerful car bomb kills at least 90 in Peshawar market

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) — A powerful car bomb ripped through a bustling marketplace in Peshawar Wednesday, killing at least 90 people — most of them women — a government official said.

The blast at the Meena Bazaar injured more than 200 others, according to North West Frontier Province’s information minister. The market is a labyrinth of shops popular with women in the Peepal Mandi section of the city.

The attack is the deadliest ever carried out in Peshawar and is among the country’s deadliest.

A suicide car bombing on October 9 in Khyber Bazaar, a commercial hub in Peshawar, killed at least 49 people and injured 135 others.

Peshawar is the capital of the North West Frontier Province, where the Pakistan army has been engaged in an intense military offensive to rout militants who have launched attacks in the country and in neighboring Afghanistan.

Despite the offensive, militants have continued to strike with relative impunity in Pakistan, raising concerns about the ability of the government forces to maintain control.

U.S. President Barack Obama signed legislation this month providing an additional $7.5 billion in assistance to Pakistan over the next five years. The White House is working on a comprehensive review of U.S. strategy in Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan.

Peshawar is 103 miles (167 km) from the capital, Islamabad, where U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was visiting Wednesday. It sits on the main supply route into Afghanistan and is the gateway to Pakistan’s ungoverned tribal regions.