PESHAWAR, April 29: At least nine people, two employees of Afghan consulate among them, were killed and 43 injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a bus stop on the University Road here on Monday.

The blast also damaged nearby buildings and power supply system.

Superintendent of Police Faisal Kamran said it was yet to be ascertained who or what the actual target was. According to him, initial investigation suggests three possibilities. Either a police patrol van or a high-profile Afghan national was the actual target or the bomber was going to hit another target but his suicide vest exploded before he reached his target.

He said police had taken steps to prevent such attacks but it was impossible to do so with the existing manpower and limited resources, particularly at a time when electioneering was in full swing and every candidate expected security.

Afghan Counsel General Ibrahim Khel Afghan said the two officials -- Qari Hilal Ahmed Waqad, who dealt with trade, and Mohammad Idrees, refugee attaché -- had disembarked from a bus and were walking to their office when the blast occurred. Qari Hilal is son of Amin Waqad, a former Afghan minister.

“They were not the target because they regularly came to the University Town office from Hayatabad where they lived and had never received any threat,” he said.

Police official Zahid Hussain said he believed that a police van was the target, adding that the injured included passengers waiting at the Arbab Road bus stop and employees of government and private organisations who were coming to Hayatabad from Swabi in a bus.

Bomb disposal unit personnel said explosives weighing five to six kilogramme had been packed in the suicide vest. They said legs of the bomber had been found and sent to local mortuary.

Witness Najeeb, who lives in the University Town, said he was on Abdara Road when he heard a deafening explosion and rushed to the place.

“Bodies and injured were lying in pools of blood. The injured were crying for help but people were reluctant to approach them because of fear of another blast,” he said.

Jan Sher, injured driver of the wagon, said: “We were at the bus stop when a motorcyclist wearing a helmet blew himself up.” Cleaner Ghazi Gul was seriously injured.

Another witness, Mehboob Alam, of Charsadda and owner of the bus, said his vehicle was carrying passengers to Hayatabad when it was hit by the blast. “I miraculously remained unhurt though I was sitting beside the driver who was seriously injured.”

The injured, a woman among them, were taken to the Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) and Lady Reading Hospital. A source in the KTH said seven of the injured were in critical condition. Of the eight bodies brought to the hospital, three were mutilated and beyond identification.

Besides the Afghan officials, three other victims were identified as Shamsuddin, Adeel Shah and Makhdoom.

An AFP report quoted police as saying the attack targeted a top civil servant who heads the city’s administration.

“The suicide bombing targeted senior official Sahibzada Anees, who had passed by shortly before the blast,” police official Mohammad Faisal told the news agency.

The commissioner was the target but he escaped unhurt as the bomber missed him and his motorcycle rammed into a passenger bus, Mr Faisal said.