PESHAWAR, Oct 9: At least 25 people were injured, two of them critically, when a bomb went off at a CD shop in Nishtarabad area of Peshawar on Tuesday, while 30 shops were blown up in Malakand.

The blast at Hussaini Plaza in the provincial capital took place at around 4pm, damaging about 30 shops selling audio and video CDs and cassettes.

The injured, mostly workers and shop owners, were taken to the Lady Reading Hospital.

City police chief Abdul Majid Marwat said a time bomb had been used in the blast. He linked the attack to the terrorist acts in the province and Fata.

Shopkeepers in Nishtarabad had received threatening letters from militants in June. Some people had also visited markets and threatened shopkeepers.

Our Malakand Correspondent adds: About 30 shops, mostly of videos and CDs, were damaged by explosions in three markets in Batkhela tehsil. The explosion of improvised explosive devices in Shan Market, Marhaba Market and Zaman Plaza created panic in the area.

Witnesses said 30 to 40 militants, with their faces covered, reached the markets in the local main bazaar at about 1.30am and asked some tailors working there to vacate their shops. As they left the market, they heard explosions and the attackers left.