PESHAWAR: At least three members of the anti-Taliban Adezai Qaumi Lashkar were killed and 11 people were injured when a blast rocked the Matni bazaar near Peshawar on Monday evening.

The bazaar is near Darra Adamkhel along the Peshawar-Kohat road, about 25km from the provincial capital. A few days ago, police had defused a 15kg bomb in the same area.

Israr Khan, commander of the lashkar, and members Islam Gul and Khaista Gul were killed in the blast said to have been caused by an improvised explosive device.

According to witnesses, the explosion was followed by heavy firing in which some local people were injured.

They said several houses were damaged and power supply was disrupted by the explosion.

Rural Circle SP Abdul Kalam Khan said the device had been placed in a wheelbarrow and detonated by remote control. He said the victims had gone to the bazaar to buy food for Iftar.

The injured were taken to the Lady Reading Hospital.

SP Kalam Khan said security personnel had cordoned off the area and were looking for the attackers.

An official of the bomb disposal squad said about 10kg of explosives had been used for the blast.

Israr Khan was nephew of a former chief of the lashkar who was killed in a suicide attack last year. The head of the lashkar expressed concern over increase in militant activities in the area in recent weeks and failure of law-enforcement personnel to prevent such incidents. “We have time and again asked the police officials concerned and the district administration to launch an operation against militants who are regrouping, but no action has been taken so far,” he said.

Abdul Sami Paracha adds from Kohat: The Tariq Afridi group of the banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack and threatened to eliminate all members of the lashkar. Local TTP spokesman Mohammad Hamza told Dawn that the group had avenged the killing of two students of a seminary by the lashkar four months ago.