PESHAWAR, March 26: Four people, including president of the NWFP Olympic Association and former Senator Syed Aqil Shah, were injured when a bomb went off outside a bank on the Saddar Road on Monday night.

“The device was planted in a motorcycle. The explosion smashed windowpanes of a nearby bank, a hotel and shops,” said an eyewitness.

He said that Syed Aqil Shah, information secretary of the Awami National Party, was standing outside the Greens Hotel which he owns.

The blast occurred after a middle-aged man ran away from the place.

“We were standing with Aqil Shah looking at his new mobile phone when the blast took place,” said a nearby shopkeeper.

Other injured were identified as Nazir, a bank guard and passersby Yousaf and Pervez.

They were taken to a hospital where their condition is said to be stable.

“It was an act of terrorism. It was part of the current chain of blasts in the provincial capital,” said Peshawar SSP Iftikhar Ahmad. He suspected that the explosion was carried out by a remote control device.

Rumours that a second blast was likely sparked panic in the area.

The blast damaged a vehicle of the provincial information department which was there to pick up some visiting journalists staying in the hotel. The car of provincial Population Minister Kashif Azam Chishti was also damaged.