Peshawar blast toll mounts to 41 India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

The death toll in the Peshawar bomb blast has gone up to 41. North West Frontier Province's Health Minister Zahir Ali Shah told media persons after visiting the injured people in the Lady Reading hospital here that over 40 persons have died in the brutal attack and over 100 grievously injured. Provincial Information Minister, Mian Iftikhar Hussain said officials are investigating whether the blast was a suicide attack or the bomb was planted inside a vehicle parked near by. "It was not immediately clear if it was a remote-controlled device or a suicide attack.We are investigating whether it was a suicide blast or the device was planted in the vehicle," The News quoted Hussain,as saying. The blast, which occurred in Karachi Bazaar, part of Khyber market near the NWFP assembly building, was so powerful that it destroyed several vehicles parked nearby. Meanwhile, both President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani have condemned the blast. Offering his deepest condolences to the families of people who were killed in the attack, Zardari,in his message, said the government is pledged to root out militancy from the country. "The perpetrators of such heinous crime would not be spared. The government was committed to root out terrorism from the country," Zardari said. In a separate message, Gilani termed extremists as the country's biggest enemies and said that every effort would be made to eradicate them. He also directed the concerned authorities to probe the attack and find out the perpetrators.