PESHAWAR: At least eight people were killed including the son of two-time former Afghan minister whereas 43 others were injured in a blast at Peshawar's University road on Monday morning.

Qazi Hilal Ahmed Waqaud , the son of a former two-time Afghan minister Afghanistan and veteran militant leader Qazi Muhammad Amin Waqaud, was also killed in the blast along with his cousin Idrees.

The Afghan Consul General in Peshawar Syed Muhmmad Ibrahim Khel told Dawn.Com that Hilal Ahmed Waqaud was a member of Afghan Consulate's trade commission whereas Idrees Ahmed was attache for Afghan minister for refugee affairs in Pakistan.

He said that the two consulate staffers, who were also cousins, were heading to work from their homes when they were caught up in the blast and died as a result of the injuries sustained.

Qazi Muhammad Amin was a militant leader affiliated with Hizb-i-Islami Gulbadin Hikmatyar and was his deputy but later parted ways and formed his own party.

In 1992 he was deputed as Afghanistan's minister for communication for short period while in 2004 Hamid Karzai appointed Qazi Amin Waqaud as a minister of justice.

Amin later become a leading member of national front, opposing President Hamid Karzai.

Qazi Amin Waquad is also a member of Afghanistan's High Peace Council, which is engaged in talks with Taliban and the Karzai led government.

According to sources, militants had allegedly targeted a police mobile van in the capital of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The explosion also hit a passenger bus which was moving along the police mobile.

Security forces and police cordoned off the area and shifted the bodies and injured to the Khyber Teaching Hospital.

Senior Superintendent of Police Operations Imran Shahid told reporters that the attacker was riding a motorcycle and might have been the cause of the explosion and that the blast could be a suicide attack, adding that “we are also assessing the CCTV footage.

Superintendent of Police Peshawar Cantt Muhammad Faisal said about five to six kilograms of explosives was used in the blast and it was a suicide attack, adding that the police also found body parts of the suspected bomber and were investigating.

Chief executive of Khyber Teaching Hospital Dr Umer Ayub confirmed that eight people had died in the explosion while 43 injured were being treated at the KTH.

Moreover, media reports were saying that Commissioner Peshawar Sahibzada Anees was passing from the same area when the blast took place. However, he appears to have survived, sources from the commissioner house were quoted as saying.

In another incident security forces along with Peshawar police conducted a joint operation and arrested three key-suspected militants.

Security sources told Dawn.com that one of the suspected taken into custody was an alleged member of the banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militant organisation whereas the other two belonged to the proscribed Lashkar-i-Islam group.

Sources added that sophisticated weaponry was also recovered from the arrested suspects, who were planning to carry out terrorist activities in Peshawar.

The suspects were shifted to an undisclosed location for further questioning.