Peshawar blast death toll reaches 41

PESHAWAR: At least 41 people were killed and more than 80 injured in a blast near Khan Raziq police station in Qissa Khawani bazaar of Peshawar, Geo News reported.

Several vehicles and adjacent buildings were damaged. Law enforcement agencies have cordoned off the area.

"The blast killed at least 41 people," Home Secretary Khyber PakhtunKhwa said.

A police official who also confirmed the blast, said it took place immediately after a car stopped in the market.

Police officer Zahid Khan said the Sunday explosion appeared to have been a bomb planted in a parked car and detonated by remote control.

Commissioner Peshawar Sahebzada Muhammad Anis also confirmed the casualties.

AFP adds: An official at Peshawar's Lady Reading Hospital, Jameel Shah, also confirmed the new toll.

Local officials said the blast took place near a police station but they did not initially believe the station was the intended target.

"Police station does not seem to be the target as it was away from the attack site," bomb disposal chief Shafqat Malik said.

He said, "It looks like the market was the target."

He told AFP the evidence suggested it was a remote controlled bomb.

"In fact, the whole car, which had been parked along the roadside, was converted into a remote controlled bomb," he said.

Sunday's attack was the third major bombing to strike Peshawar and its suburbs in the past seven days.

Last Sunday a twin suicide attack at a Peshawar church killed 82 people. On Friday, a powerful bomb tore through a bus carrying government employees on the edge of Peshawar city, killing 18 people.