According to DawnNews, seven people have been killed and at least 20 people have been injured. The police said that the wounded were taken to CMH and Lady Reading Hospital.

The deadly blast, the second in the region within a matter of hours, ripped through a crowded area, near two banks, shops and a wedding hall on Mall Road, near a cantonment of army offices and residential quarters for commanders.

'I can see casualties lying on the ground,' police official Anwar Khan told AFP by telephone.

TV footage showed volunteers hauling the wounded on to the back of trucks as police tried to evacuate the area and ambulances inching through onlookers as a young girl limped away with blood spattered on her green dress.

'It was a huge bomb blast, so many bank officials are trapped inside the bank. I can see surrounding buildings damaged and vehicles damaged,' bank official Saghir Khan told AFP.

The car bomb blast took place near a private bank in Peshawar Cantt where several cars were also destroyed.

'It was a very big explosion. I could see smoke rising from the scene,' Asad Ali, a resident, said by telephone from Peshawar. Police said they were investigating.