Violence is engulfing Pakistani territory along the Afghan border as American and allied forces crank up the pressure on al-Qaida and Taliban militants entrenched in the forbidding and barely governed mountains and valleys.
Washington and other nations are pouring in billions of dollars in aid and military assistance to prop up the pro-Western government in Islamabad, which on Saturday sought to allay concerns that its nuclear weapons could fall into extremist hands.
The car bomb devastated a street in the main northwestern city of Peshawar on Saturday afternoon as it was busy with shoppers and traffic.
Television images showed several vehicles burning fiercely and a stricken white-and-green bus that had been dropping handicapped children at their homes around the city.
The eight students still on board were injured, one seriously, medics and police said. Four other children and seven adults were killed, and dozens more were injured, they said.
Safwat Ghayur, a senior police official, said one of a string of shops wrecked by the blast was an Internet cafe
- a favorite target for violent Islamist extremists in Pakistan who consider the Web a source of moral corruption.
Ghayur said the cafe had received several threats and even been attacked recently by gunmen. He said police were holding suspects in the shooting, but refused to elaborate.
It was unclear if any of the victims had been in the cafe or if it was the intended target. No group immediately claimed responsibility.
Militants have threatened more attacks in Pakistan in retaliation for dozens of American missile attacks on their strongholds in Pakistan's tribal areas.
