A suicide car bomb attack at a crowded bazaar killed at least 25 persons in northwestern Pakistan on Friday, a police officer said.
The bomber rammed his explosive-filled car through a roadside market in Kohat district, causing huge destruction to buildings, police officer Ali Hasan told reporters.
Hasan said that many shops on both sides of the road collapsed at Kacha Pakha bazaar, some 25 kilometers from Kohat city, and 25 bodies have been pulled out of the rubble of nearby hotel and shops.
The police officer said that over 35 others were injured and several of them are in critical condition.
A large number of people were still trapped in the buildings. He said many shops were flattened.
No group has claimed responsibility for the raid but the government blames suspected Taliban for such attacks.
Ambulances were sent to the site to take the injured to Kohat city as there is no hospitals in the area where the blast had happened, officials said.
Officials said that troops were also sent to the area to help local authorities in relief activities. They said heavy machinery was sent to the site to remove debris of the destroyed buildings.
Witnesses said that a large number of people were at the markets ahead of the Muslim Eid festival when the bomber exploded his bomb.
People traveling to other areas also take buses and coaches from Kacha Pakha area, and some of them also came under attack, police said.
Motives behind the attack were not clear as the bomber targeted civilian area and many civilians were killed and injured. Police believe that sectarian motives may be behind the attack.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari strongly condemned the blast in Kohat, saying that the government would leave no stone unturned to find the culprits and give them severe punishment under the law.
Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani also condemned the suicide blast and expressed deep grief and sorrow over the loss of lives in the incident.
The prime minister termed the attack as a cowardly act of terrorism and expressed the government's determination to stamp out the menace of terrorism and militancy from the country.
The prime minister asked the concerned authorities to carry out inquiry into the incident and ensure best medical facilities to the injured.
The attack was the second in two days in Kohat, a rough town in the region bordering Afghanistan with a history of sectarian and other militant violence. A bomb wounded six people Thursday.
(Xinhua News Agency September 18, 2009)
