PESHAWAR, Sept 8: A powerful bomb ripped through a car parked outside a bank on a busy road in the cantonment area here on Saturday, causing minor injuries to 24 people. Eight vehicles and windowpanes of nearby buildings were damaged.

According to Capital City Police Chief Abdul Majeed Marwat, a Russian-made MUV-II time device containing 10-12kg explosives was used in the blast in front of the Askari Commercial Bank on the Fakhar-i-Alam Road.

Police said the owner of the car which wreaked the blast had not been traced.

The injured were taken to the nearby Combined Military Hospital and the Lady Reading Hospital. Mr Marwat said most of the injured had been discharged after first aid.

On July 14, high-intensity explosive devices, including two anti-tank mines, had been found in a burning car in the parking zone of the Askari Commercial Bank.

Police had arrested three people on July 27 and Mr Marwat claimed they had confessed to have been involved in a series of bombings in Peshawar. The accused had been jailed by an anti-terrorism court.

Awami National Party president Asfandyar Wali Khan has condemned the bombing and said wrong policies of the government and intelligence agencies were causing uncertainty in the country.

He alleged that extremist groups being harboured in different areas by intelligence agencies were used to secure the objectives. He said intervention in the neighbouring Afghanistan and patronage of local militant outfits had pushed the country into war.