PESHAWAR, Dec 5: At least 22 people were killed and over 90 others injured when a car bomb ripped through a congested locality of Kocha Risaldar near Qissa Khwani Bazaar on Friday evening.

The explosion was followed by a fire that engulfed scores of buildings in the narrow streets, making it difficult for rescue workers to move the injured and bodies trapped inside.

Hospital sources said the death toll might rise because some of the injured were in critical condition.

People started running around in panic amid groans of the injured and wails of ambulance sirens.

A large number of people rushed to rescue the injured and pull bodies from devastated buildings.

Mian Iftikhar Hussain, a spokesman for the NWFP government, and provincial police chief Malik Mohammad Naveed said the explosion had probably been caused by a car bomb.

However, the city police chief said it was not clear whether it was a car bomb blast or suicide bombing. “The cause can be ascertained once the area is cleared and the fire is extinguished.”

He said police and volunteers had begun evacuating the victims and a rescue operation was in progress. Forensic evidence would be studied afterwards. He said the explosion might have taken place in a hotel or a vehicle.

The victims, among them women and children, were taken to the Lady Reading Hospital. Most of the bodies were mutilated, some charred beyond recognition.

Some students of Kohat University who were staying at the Park Hotel said three of their colleagues had died.

The blast damaged scores of houses and shops and several people were injured by shreds of broken windowpanes.

There was an imambargah, Alamdar Karbala, in the hotel building.

According to sources, a van parked in a lane outside the hotel had exploded.

Witnesses said power supply was suspended after the explosion.

Plastic utensils and used clothes in shops fuelled the fire. Several vehicles parked in the vicinity were destroyed.

The fire also affected a girls’ school in Jehangirpura. Most of the shops were burnt to ashes as firefighters had to negotiate their way through alleys to reach the scene. It took two hours to douse the leaping flames.

Syed Irfan Raza adds from Islamabad: President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani condemned the Peshawar bomb blast.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister’s Adviser on Interior Rehman Malik ordered an inquiry into the incident and asked the NWFP government to submit a report of the probe.