People seek reasons for Peshawar bombing

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- Residents of Peshawar, Pakistan, say they find it hard to believe their own people could have been responsible for a car bombing that killed about 110 people.

The Oct. 28 attack in a crowded market area killed mostly women and children, making the tragedy even more painful for people in the already violence-wracked city. While Pakistanis interviewed by The New York Times agreed civilians were taking the brunt, they did not display greater anger at the Taliban.

The report said people refused to believe their countrymen were to blame but did not spare the government for failing to protect civilians, even as the military fights the Taliban, al-Qaida and other Islamist terror groups in South Waziristan.

"The Taliban talk about morality and women's dress, but they wouldn't do such a thing to us," a gas station attendant who lost nine family members in the attack told the Times.

Many Pakistanis said only foreigners were capable of such devastating attacks, the report said.

"It's not easy to say our countrymen are in any way involved," a journalism professor told the newspaper.

The report said denial would only prevent people from knowing who their enemy is, thereby risking prolonging the violence.

"I'm telling you categorically -- the people behind this bomb are the Indians and Mossad," an oil trader, who has relatives in the United States and whose building was damaged, said.

"We are confused," a shop owner said. "We are not blaming anyone. We are not ready to believe that this was done by a human being."