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Ten people were killed and over 40 others injured when a blast hit Pakistan's northwest city of Parachinar on Monday afternoon. The report quoted local officials as saying that a blast ripped through a market area in the city, leaving dozens of people killed and injured. Initial reports said that it was a suicide blast. But now most of the local media including the state-run PTV said that it was a remote-controlled car bomb blast. The bomb was fixed in a car parked by the roadside near the Kashmir market area in the city and it went off at about 2:50 p.m. local time when a vehicle of Levies Forces, a paramilitary force in Pakistan, was passing by, said local media. It is not known whether any Levies Forces personnel got killed or injured in the blast. Police and rescue team rushed to the blast site shortly after the blast was reported. Bomb disposal squad was searching on the blast site and the nearby areas for other possible bombs. All the injured people have been shifted to the Headquarter Hospital in Kurram Agency. Some of the injured are said in critical condition and the death toll may further rise. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has strongly condemned the blast in a statement issued in the wake of the bomb attack. No group has claimed responsibility for the blast yet. Located just some 15 kilometers away from the Pak-Afghan border, Parachinar often comes under attack by militants in the area or coming from the Afghanistan side.

10 killed in Pakistan's northwest city blast