PESHAWAR: At least three people were killed and six others injured on Tuesday evening when a loud explosion ripped through a Qingqui Rickshaw in Peshawar – the capital of Pakistan’s militancy-hit Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province bordering Afghanistan.

Contradicting with initial reports of a CNG cylinder blast, SHO Badaber Yasin Khan told Dawn.com that explosives were implanted in the Rickshaw to carry out the explosion in Pando Chowk area of the city. He confirmed the death toll and number of injured.

“Those killed are Afghan refugees and injured are both Pakistani and Afghan nationals,” he said.

“About eight kilos of explosives were used in the blast which was carried out through a remote-controlled device,” said Zahid Khan, an official of Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS).

According to eye witnesses, the three-wheel passenger vehicle exploded when its driver switched it on.

Injured and dead were taken to Lady Reading Hospital.

Pakistan is on the frontlines of the US-led war on al Qaeda. Since July 2007, it has also been gripped by a local Taliban-led insurgency, concentrated largely in the northwest.

It says more than 40,000 people have been killed in Pakistan by Taliban and al Qaeda-led militants, who oppose Islamabad's US alliance.