PESHAWAR, Pakistan – A car bomb ripped through a crowded street in Peshawar’s oldest bazaar Sunday, killing 40 people in the third blast to hit the troubled Pakistani city in a week, officials said. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
The explosion appeared to have been caused by a bomb planted in a parked car and detonated by remote control, said police officer Zahid Khan. It went off near a mosque and a police station, damaging the house of worship and nearby shops and engulfing many vehicles in flames, police said.
At least 40 people were killed and 90 wounded, said Jamil Shah, a spokesman for Lady Reading Hospital, where the victims were taken.
Such attacks in Peshawar, in northwestern Pakistan, have claimed more than 140 lives since last Sunday, when two suicide bombers blew themselves up in a crowd of worshippers at a church, killing 85 people. On Friday, 19 people died when a bomb planted on a bus carrying government employees exploded in the Peshawar outskirts.
The Sunni militant group Jundullah claimed responsibility for the church attack, saying it targeted Christians to avenge the deaths of Muslims killed by U.S. drone strikes.