PESHAWAR, Aug 12: Six air force personnel and seven other people were killed when a car bomb exploded near a bridge on the main Peshawar-Kohat Road in the southern part of the city on Tuesday morning.

Included among the dead were a six-year-old girl and two women who were going to a wedding ceremony, two van drivers and two bike riders.

Some of the bodies were badly mutilated and could not be identified. The place presented a gory scene with body parts scattered over a large area.

Local elder Haji Malik Khwaja Mohammad said parts of vehicles and human flesh were found in courtyards of nearby houses.

Fourteen people who were injured were taken to the Lady Reading Hospital and four of them were said to be in a critical condition.

The injured PAF personnel were later taken to Peshawar’s Combined Military Hospital.

An official of the police investigation wing told Dawn that the attack could be a revenge action for the military operation in Swat, Bajaur and other tribal areas.

He said the deployment of paramilitary forces in the outskirts of the city had also angered the militants who had been attacking police almost every night in Matni area near Dara Adamkhel.

Bomb disposal personnel said the explosives used for the blast weighed over 20 kilograms.

The explosion took place when a van carrying PAF personnel was going from the Badbher PAF base to Peshawar.

Police said it was not yet clear whether it was a case of suicide attack or of a bomb detonated by remote control.

The explosion caused a 10-foot long and five-foot wide crater on one side of the bridge and damaged two pick-ups, a motorcycle, an auto rickshaw, two bicycles and two donkey carts.

The blast also shattered windowpanes of nearby houses, hotels and restaurants and shutters of several shops.

The road was closed and traffic was diverted to the bypass.

Local people criticised police and fire brigade for taking about 45 minutes to reach the place.

According to BBC, Taliban spokesman Maulvi Omar claimed responsibility for the attack and said it was in response to military operations against militants in Bajaur. It was the second bomb blast in two days.

The first blast took place in Shaikhabad area of Gulbahar on Aug 11, when a bomb held by a young man exploded in his hands.