KALAYA, Feb 8: Ten people were killed and over 30 others wounded when a powerful bomb ripped through a weekly bazaar in Ferozkhel area of Orakzai Agency on Friday, officials said.

The device was planted in a pickup truck and detonated by remote control. An official of the bomb disposal squad said about 15kg of explosives had been used in the blast.

Assistant Political Agent Fazal-i-Qadir told journalists that 10 people had been killed and 31 others injured, adding that those with serious wounds had been shifted to hospitals in the adjacent Hangu and Kohat districts.

According to witnesses, the bomb went off when people thronged the bazaar at Ferozkhel in lower tehsil of the volatile tribal agency after noon prayer in a nearby mosque.

Ferozkhel was cleared of militants in June 2011, leading the authorities to allow people displaced by violence in the area to return to their homes.

Meanwhile, jet fighters pounded militant hideouts in the upper tehsil of Orakzai. Security officials said six militants were killed and three hideouts destroyed in the air strikes.

A ‘commander’ of the banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan said they had carried out the bomb attack and that the peace committee members were the target.