Car bomb kills 86 in Peshawar

A car bomb tore through a crowded market in north-western Pakistan today, killing at least 86 people, just hours after US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in the country to show American support for its campaign against Islamist militants.

More than 100 people were wounded in the blast in the main north-western city of Peshawar, the latest in a surge of bloody attacks this month by suspected militants apparently aimed at denting public backing for an army offensive against al Qaida and Taliban close to the Afghan border.