CHARSADDA At least 34 people were killed and nearly 100 others injured when a powerful car bomb ripped through a crowded intersection in Charsadda bazaar on Tuesday afternoon.

Scores of women and children died and dozens of shops and vehicles were damaged in the suspected suicide attack. A power breakdown caused by the explosion and lack of facilities hampered rescue work.

Doctors said five bodies and 65 wounded people were taken to the Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar, and the condition of 10 of them was critical.

An official of the NWFP health department said that 29 bodies and 35 injured people were received in the Charsadda district headquarters hospital. He said several bodies were charred.

District police chief Riaz Khan said the explosives were packed in a car parked near the Farooq-i-Azam chowk.

He said he suspected that it was a suicide attack because limbs and shoes of the suspected bomber had been found. The DPO had crossed the intersection minutes before the explosion.

Shopkeepers and vendors were preparing to put down the shutters and a large number of people were waiting at a taxi stand when the explosion took place. Plumes of smoke blanketed the place after the blast.

Several women and children were among the victims. The place was littered with flesh and charred bodies. People were crying for help and all markets were closed. The area was strewn with damaged vehicles, pushcarts and debris from destroyed shops.

Absence of an ambulance service and trained rescue teams forced the authorities to seek the help of Peshawar-based government and private organisations. An ambulance of the District Headquarters Hospital was out of order.

Local people expressed anger over delay in taking the injured people to hospital.

CONDEMNATION
Awami National Party's president Asfandyar Wali Khan, Chief Minister Amir Haider Khan Hoti and Senator Afrasyab Khattak condemned the blast.

'These barbaric elements have no religion and faith. The government is determined to eliminate terrorism and our struggle will continue,' they said in a statement. They urged people, particularly party workers, to donate blood and help the affected people.

Agencies add The blast on a road lined with fruit and juice shops ripped off shop roofs and littered the ground with slippers and debris.

'I was buying something before closing my shop. A car was parked on the other side of the road and all of a sudden there was a huge blast,' said Hazrat Ali, a shopkeeper with shrapnel wounds to his chest and forehead. 'There was smoke and darkness everywhere. I passed out,' he said.

Rashid Kaka said he was returning from a mosque to his shop when the bomb exploded, destroying stores on both sides of the road and knocking down electrical wires.

'It was deafening and there were clouds of dust all around. I could not see anything around me. Later I saw many bodies lying scattered.'

The blast damaged signboards and at least six vehicles, including two buses. Seven children and three women were among the dead, police said.