Peshawar, the capital of the North-West Frontier Province in Pakistan was rocked with a high intensity car bomb blast today. The car was parked near the assembly hall laden with almost 30-40 KG explosive materials. It was not a suicidal attack as there was no one inside the car. As per the latest reports Police confirmed that 21 people were killed and more than 90 were injured.

Ayesha writes in her post “Peshawar Bleeds”:

How many more blasts and how many more deaths this historic city would see?

Koocha Risaldar, Kissa Khawni is the congested and populated area. The blast took place at such time when most people were out shopping as Eid is also round the corner. Although the blast occurred close to Imam Bargah but in my view that wasn’t the target.

The situation got worse when the electricity of that area failed and a huge fire spread out due to an explosion in an adjacent gas pipeline. Nearby Warehouses and shops were also engulfed in fire. Sources have been suspecting that this blast could be a reaction to the recent Mumbai terror attacks and the usual blame games are on in the media and news channels from Pakistan that the Indian Intelligence RAW could be behind this. The Chief Minister of NWFP has also mentioned that a foreign hand could be involved behind this attack.

Video courtesy YouTube user Kabirrind

Pakistani bloggers were slow to react to this news probably due to the weekend, Hajj and Eid ul Adha holidays. But some were seen active on Twitter in disseminating the news. For the latest updates on the tragedy you can follow the Twitter updates here or at my own Twitter Channel here. You can also find a roundup of media reports at my own blog Guppu.com.