Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Militants killed at least 23 people in a car bombing in the northwestern Pakistan town of Charsadda, after President Asif Ali Zardari urged the country to confront extremism and preserve democracy.

The attack injured as many as 45 people, Sher Gul, a spokesman for the Edhi Foundation, the nation’s biggest ambulance service, said by telephone from the town.

“The extremists and militants have rejected the constitution, the federation and institutions of democracy only to capture power in the name of religion,” Zardari said yesterday. “This cannot be allowed.”

Militants in Pakistan have killed more than 300 people in bombings and attacks since the army last month began its biggest offensive aimed at driving pro-Taliban fighters from the South Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

A suspected suicide bomber struck a police post in Peshawar yesterday, killing at least four people in the second such attack to hit the city in two days. Three people were wounded in the bombing, police officer Saheb Zada said in a phone interview from the city, the capital of North West Frontier Province.

At least 13 people were killed the day before as a suicide bomber attacked a crowded cattle market in the city. The Tehreek-e-Taliban, the militant group targeted by the Pakistani offensive, claimed responsibility.

Commando-Style Raids

Insurgents have mounted increasing attacks on military and government targets in recent weeks, including an assault on the army headquarters in Rawalpindi last month, commando-style raids on police complexes in the eastern city of Lahore and twin suicide bombings at the International Islamic University in Islamabad.

Militants have begun a “direct attack on the authority of the Pakistani government,” U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in an interview with the PBS network’s Charlie Rose television show, according to a transcript issued before the show went to air.

“When you have extremists attacking your general army headquarters, your intelligence offices, who go right at the Islamic University in Islamabad, this is not some foreign plot,” Clinton said. “These are people, homegrown, who want to overthrow various aspects of the Pakistani government.”

She praised Pakistan’s “forceful response” in South Waziristan and said it “illustrates a commitment to take on the Pakistani Taliban.”

Pakistan has received about $7.6 billion in military reimbursements from the U.S. since 2001 for counterterrorism.

South Waziristan Clashes

Pakistan’s army said nine terrorists were killed in South Waziristan in the last 24 hours and one was apprehended.

Security forces have secured Tsappara and adjoining ridges, the military said in a statement on its Web site today. Troops also found a private jail near Banga Khel, according to the statement.

Pakistan stocks fell for the third day, with the benchmark reaching its lowest level in two months, as the ongoing fight between the army and pro-Taliban militants raised concerns that a recovery in the country’s economy may be damaged.

The benchmark Karachi Stock Exchange 100 Index retreated 174.08, or 2 percent, to 8,762.40, its lowest level since Aug. 31. The stock market was closed yesterday for a public holiday.

Zardari’s government wants to complete the operation in South Waziristan before winter starts in the region next month and says guerrillas are fleeing the offensive.

The Taliban says its forces are falling back deliberately to draw soldiers into the region and engage them in a long war.

To contact the reporters on this story: Farhan Sharif in Karachi at fsharif2@bloomberg.net; Khalid Qayum in Islamabad at kqayum@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 10, 2009 10:47 EST