PESHAWAR - Over 40 people were killed and more than 100 wounded Friday when a car loaded with explosives blew up with a roar in a crowded market in Pakistan’s Peshawar city, a minister said.

North West Frontier Province (NWFP) Health Minister Zahir Ali Shah put the toll at 41 after visiting the Lady Reading Hospital where the injured were admitted. He said the condition of 15 injured people was critical.

The explosion occurred around noon at the Karachi Bazaar, close to the NWFP assembly.

Television footage showed a wrecked vehicle and an overturned bus. The powerful blast damaged several vehicles parked nearby and triggered panic in the heart of Peshawar, about 150 km from Islamabad.

Provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said up to 100 people were injured.

Deputy Inspector General of Police Safqat Malik said the explosives were packed in a white car. He said it was premature to confirm whether it was a suicide attack or if a bomb was detonated with remote control.

He added that 50 kg explosives were used in the mayhem.

Shopkeeper Mohammad Kamran said: “I was busy at work when I heard the blast. I rushed to the scene and saw naked bodies and the injured.

“Some bodies of women and children were trapped in damaged cars. I saw a person who had lost both his legs but was trying to crawl out of a bus,” he added.

The explosion damaged several shops in the market.

“All this was so horrible that I started to cry. Who are these cruel people who commit such atrocious acts? It is unbelievable,” DPA quoted Kamran as saying.

The attack took place less than a week after the new Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud vowed to avenge the killing of his predecessor Baitullah Mehsud and other Taliban leaders in US missile attacks.

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani condemned the bomb blast.

Zardari said the perpetrators of such heinous crime would not be spared and added that the government was committed to root out terrorism from the country.

In a separate message, Gilani said terrorists and extremists were Pakistan’s biggest enemies and every effort would be made to eradicate them.

It was the second bombing in Peshawar since Sep 26 when several people were killed. Pakistan has seen a spate of bombings after security forces stepped up their offensive against the Pakistani Taliban fighters.