PESHAWAR, Dec 1: The office of district coordination officer was damaged slightly when a time bomb went off here on Thursday, police said.

“Besides damaging the outer wall of DCO office at Bacha Khan Chowk, the blast also damaged the windows, doors and windowpanes of the nearby offices,” an official of Faqirabad police station said.

The explosive packed in a ghee canister was planted near the wall of DCO office that went off at 5:45am.

Heavy contingents of police cordoned off the area after the blast and restricted movement of vehicles and pedestrians.

According to Bomb Disposal Unit the device was locally made and weighed about 500 grams. It exploded before the fixed time. “Had it exploded about one hour later, there would have been many casualties.

The vegetable market is located very close and there is great rush of vendors, chicken sellers and customers in the area,” officials said.

DCO Siraj Ahmed, when contacted, told Dawn that there was no specific threat to his office but in the prevailing circumstances terrorists could attack anyone.

“Anyone can be involved in the crime as we have sealed several fake factories of daily use items, penalised people and arrested hundreds of shopkeepers for selling below standard commodities and overcharging customers,” he said.

The terrorists, he said, wanted to disturb the peaceful atmosphere but the law enforcement agencies were fully alert to avert all kinds of untoward incidents.

“We have adopted tight security measures to ensure protection on the occasion of Muharram,” the DCO added.