Islamabad : An explosion yesterday killed 4 people and injured 14 in Peshawar, capital of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, police said.
Officials initially said the blast in a commercial district of Peshawar was caused by a car bomb, but investigators found no trace of explosives at the scene. Police Chief Liaquat Ali Khan said it was an accidental explosion that went off in a shop with paint stored inside. The exact cause was still unclear.
The explosion damaged vehicles and shattered windows in a wide stretch along a major road. Three people died and 14 others were wounded, Khan said.
Several people were briefly trapped in upper floors of the building, which also houses several lawyers' offices as well as shops. Firefighters struggled to put out the flames, and some tried to get into the building using a ladder.
Peshawar has been regularly targeted in what the authorities termed retaliation to the ongoing military operation against the Taliban in South Waziristan.
Terrorists have also carried out a string of attacks in the national capital, Islamabad, and neighbouring Rawalpindi, seat of the army headquarters, since the launch of the Waziristan operation in mid-October.
An attack on Friday by assailants on a mosque in an army residential area in Rawalpindi killed 36 people, including a general and five other officers. A military statement identified nine army personnel and others killed in the attack.
Toll
Earlier following the incident on Friday, the Rawalpindi police had put the toll at around 40 killed and 83 injured. According to the military statement, the victims also included 17 children, mostly of army personnel, and 10 civilians.
The six officers killed in the attack were Major General Umer Bilal, Brigadier Abdul Rauf, Lieutenant Colonel Fakhar, Lieutenant Colonel Manzoor Saeed, Major Zahid and Major Shoaib Naik.
