PESHAWAR: A car bomb exploded near a refugee camp in northwestern Pakistan on Thursday, killing at least 12 people and injured 25 others, police said.

The dead included two women and two children.

Jalozai, the country’s largest refugee camp, is home to tens of thousands of people displaced from the tribal areas on the Afghan border and is close to the main northwestern city of Peshawar.

The blast took place at the office gate of a Fata Disaster Management Authority (FDMA) distribution point in Phase V area of Jalozai camp.

“The bomb exploded in a car parked near the administration office where refugees had lined up to get rations and new arrivals were being registered,” said camp police official Fuad Khan.

District Police Officer Mohammad Hussain said the bomb was planted in a car, which killed at twelve people as it exploded.

He further said three vehicles were destroyed as a result of the blast, and that a crater was formed at the blast site.

Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) official Abdul Haq told Dawn.com that around 35 kilograms of explosive material was used in the explosion.

The injured were shifted to the District Headquarter (DHQ) Hospital Noweshera and Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar. Some of the wounded were reported to be in critical condition.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast.

The outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militant organisation has disassociated itself from the attack.