HANGU, Jan 17: At least 18 people were killed and several others injured when a bomb ripped apart a passenger coach near Jawzara on Monday.

According to police, the explosive device, fitted with a CNG cylinder of the coach going to Peshawar from Hangu, exploded near the Abdul Ali checkpoint.

All the people in the vehicle were feared dead.

Several passengers in another coach were also injured and the vehicle overturned.

The local bomb disposal squad’s chief Akber Khan said high-intensity explosives had been used to detonate the gas cylinder.

Deputy Inspector General of Kohat Police Masud Afridi said the attack was aimed at vitiating peace.

The injured were taken to the Hangu district headquarters hospital.

Hospital sources identified some of those killed in the explosion as Nasar Khan, Gulman Shah, Zulfiqar Ali, Khan Samir, Shabir Ghulam, Iqrar Ali, Mohammad Ghani, Fazal Hanan, Syed Amanullah, Hazrat Noor and Kamil Beg.

AFP adds: The deceased included two people who were travelling in a pick-up.

Eight injured people were hospitalised. Four of them were in critical condition.

District police chief Abdul Rashid said about 10kg of explosives fitted with a timer had been placed in the vehicle.

The mangled and charred wreckage of the coach and the other vehicle were left at the place.

“We are looking for the owner of the vehicle as the driver was killed in the blast,” Mr Afridi said.

He said the target of the bombing was apparently a Shia leader, Kamil Ali, who was an accused in a case of sectarian killing in September.

“He, along with three co-accused in the case, was on his way to Kohat for a hearing at an anti-terrorism court,” when the bomb detonated and all four were killed on the spot, along with several others, Mr Afridi said.

In the same district on Friday, a woman police constable was killed along with her five relatives in a pre-dawn raid on her house by attackers armed with rockets and rifles.