Peshawar: A bomb exploded in a crowded market in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Friday, killing at least seven people and wounding more than 40, police said.
The explosion occurred in the city's downtown district about 10 minutes before iftar, the time for breaking the daily fast during the holy Islamic month of Ramadan, said police officer Zafar Khan said.
Six people in the street were killed and another man, who was among several critically wounded, died later at a hospital, Khan said. At least 41 others were wounded, several seriously.
The blast sprayed body parts and debris across the street, which police pickup trucks immediately cordoned off. Police bomb disposal experts retrieved pieces of debris from the scene.
"After the explosion people all around the area were crying," said Habibullah Khan, an 18-yaer-old glass bangle vendor. "Then there were people lying in pools of blood. Debris was everywhere."
At the time of the blast, the street was crowded with shoppers making last-minute purchases of food for meals and shoes and jewelry for next week's three-day festival of Eid, which marks the end of Ramadan.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, which was caused by a homemade bomb planted in a fruit cart left by the side of the road, said Mohammed Riffat Pasha, chief of police in the North West Frontier Province of which Peshawar is the capital.
Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao condemned the bombing as terrorism but would not speculate on who might have been behind it.
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