Residents recover from Pakistan blasts

In Pakistan, residents of two major metropolises are shocked and saddened, a day after a series of explosions in their hometowns. Two blasts went off in a market in the eastern city of Lahore, killing 34 people and wounding 109, just hours after a suicide bomber took 9 lives outside a court in the northwestern city of Peshawar.

Pakistan, an ally that the United States needs to help push back the Taliban in Afghanistan, is facing relentless security troubles. The nation's latest problems are coupled with American pressure to step up its fight against militants.

In Lahore, onlookers crowded around Monday's blast site, while shopkeepers counted their losses.

Mohammad Yasin, Shop Owner, said, "All the goods in my shop have been burned up. I could only save myself and my children."

One witness says he saw a number of people burning to death.

Bombing Witness Lahore, Pakistan, said, "I was about 10 feet from my shop when the explosion occurred. Suddenly everything caught fire. Most of the people died in the blaze. There could have been less loss of life if the fire brigade had arrived earlier. Many people were burned alive."

Earlier in the day, another suicide bomber struck in Peshawar, killing 9 people.

The capital of North West Frontier Province has suffered the most from retaliatory blasts that have claimed hundreds of lives. The assaults started in October, after the army launched an offensive in South Waziristan, located on the Afghan border.

The attack in Lahore, near the boundary with India, has revived fears that extremist forces want to expand their campaign into larger swaths of the country.