PESHAWAR, Sept 29: In the third savage attack on civilians in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since the massive suicide blasts at a church in Peshawar, terrorists targeted the busy Qissa Khwani Bazaar in the city on Sunday, killing at least 43 people, including 15 children and three women, and inuring 101.

Eighteen of the people killed by the powerful blast were close relatives belonging to three families of Matta Mughal Khel village of Shabgadar. They were said to have come to Peshawar to attend a wedding.

The main road was littered with human limbs and bloodsoaked clothes. The attack was carried out by a car packed with over 200 kgs of explosive, AIG Shafgat Malik, head of the bomb disposal unit, said.

About 80 shops located on both sides of the bazar and a number of cars, motorcycles and auto-rickshaws were destroyed or damaged. The blast took place near the Khan Raiziq police station.

DSP Gul Nawaz Khan said the powerful explosion had created a four feet deep and seven feet wide crater. He said policemen posted in the bazar were quite alert and checked vehicles, but could not notice the explosives.

Another official said police could not stop entry of vehicles into the market and the government needed to work out an effective plan to avert such tragedies.

The bomb squad official said shreds of rocket shells had been found at the site and that was the reason the explosion caused such devastation. He said the explosives were locally manufactured and there was no trace ofphosphorus on them.

Shabir Ahmed, who suffered injuries in his head and legs, told Dawn that he was in his shop and fell on the ground when the huge explosion took place.

`A thick smoke engulfed the area and people were screaming in pain. I managed to stand up and walk to hospital. On seeing blood oozing from my head, rescue workers took me to the trauma unit.

He said bodies and injured people were lying all around.

Most of the injured were in no position to move and they remained on the road till the arrival of ambulances.

The CNG tank of a pick-up van exploded and several people of a family who were in the vehicle were burned to death.

Family elder Sartaj Khan said they had come to Peshawar from Shabgadar for shopping ahead of his daughter`s wedding.

`I was standing in front of a shop to buy ice cream for my ailing nephew who was with me when a deafening explosion rocked the area, Mohammad Sajjad, 26, who works in Saudi Arabia as a labourer, said in the hospital.

`The explosion was so intense that it threw me and my nephew a few metres away, injuring both of us, said Mr Khan, who escaped with minor injuries.

Weeping relatives of the dead andinjured gathered at the hospital as rescue personnel brought in bodies or small bundles of human remains.

Mohammad Wajih, 40, said he was repairing a customer`s watch in his shop at the time of the blast.

`Half the face of my customer blew up and several splinters hit him in the back.According to a spokesman of the Lady Reading Hospital, 38 bodies had been brought to the hospital.

Frontier Constabulary personnel Azizuddin of Chitral was among the dead.

Most of the victims belonged to Peshawar district.

Power supply to Qissa Khwani Bazaar, Kochi Bazar, Kohati Gate, Ashraf Road, Jangi Mohalla, Chowk Yadgar and several other localities was disrupted after the blast.

Mehfooz Shah of the Peshawar Electric Supply Company told Dawn that the blast had damaged both lines of 11,000ky, plunging half of the city into darkness. `The restoration of power supply will take at least one day,` he said.

Meanwhile, organisations of traders and businessmen announced a three-day mourning to express solidarity with the af fected families.

The organisations have asked the government to install explosive detectors at entry points of main bazaars.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who is in New York, strongly condemned the blast.

`Those involved in the killing of innocent people are devoid of humanity and all religions,` he said in comments released by his office.

According to Reuters, there was no claim of immediate responsibility and Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid condemned the attack.

After the massive blasts at a church which claimed 82 lives, a bomb tore through a bus carrying government employees on the edge of Peshawar on Friday, killing 18 people.