PESHAWAR, Feb 3: Four people were killed and several others injured in a car bomb attack on the house of a tribal elder in the city’s Peshtakhara area on Friday evening.

A police official said that about 40 kilograms of explosives had been packed in the car and detonated with remote control.

He said that scraps of shells and missiles had been mixed with the explosives to cause maximum damage.

He said that the main target was tribal elder Astana Gul but he was not there at the time of blast and his brother Ghazi Khan and his three friends died.

An eyewitness, Bawar Khan, told Dawn that he was going to the building when he heard a loud explosion and the building collapsed.

Local people went there to help the people trapped in the debris.

The blast had also damaged the power supply system and volunteers faced problems in carrying out rescue work.Security personnel cordoned off the area and blocked all entry points to avert any attack on rescue and police personnel.

Cantonment Circle Superintendent of Police Dr Mian Saeed Ahmed said the assailants planned to kill Astana Gul but he was not there.

He said that the deceased included an army captain but it could not be ascertained if he was a serving officer or had retired.

Astana Gul, who was once associated with the Khyber-based militant Lashkar-i-Islam group headed by the warlord Mangal Bagh, joined its rival Ansar-ul-Islam and the blast appeared to be aimed at punishing him and warning for others against leaving Mangal Bagh’s group.

The blast caused a wide crater near the building and damaged several other houses. Lashkar-i-Islam claimed responsibility for the blast.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Information Mian Iftikhar Hussain said the building belonged to Astana Gul Afridi, who used it as his out-house.

It was possibly a revenge for the suicide bombing which killed Haji Akhunzada and three others at Pakha Gulam area of Peshawar on Jan 30.

Haji Akhunzada was a leader of Ansar-ul-Islam.

Senior Minister Bashir Ahmed Bilour condemned the attack and said the terrorists had tried to enter the populated area of Peshawar for attacking sensitive spots, but could not do so because of tight security and checkpoints.

The corpses and the injured were taken to the Khyber Teaching Hospital.

Earlier in the day, a blast had taken place along the Ring Road in the Sarband area.

An official said the target was a police van but the blast caused no damage.

Bomb disposal personnel defused another bomb in the area.