Bomb kills at least 11, wounds 14 in Nowshera

PESHAWAR: A powerful remote-controlled bicycle bomb exploded at a busy Nowshera hotel on Thursday, killing at least 11 people, wounding 14 and destroying the building.

The device went off in the evening as dozens of people were gathered after breaking the day's fast.

The bomb was planted on a bicycle parked in the front courtyard of the hotel in the town of Nowshera, police said.

Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the information minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, told reporters at the site that 11 people had been killed and 14 injured in the blast.

Hayatullah Khan, a senior police officer who was also at the chaotic scene, told AFP that the dead included two army and one air force personnel.

"A woman and a child were also killed in the attack," he said. "It was a remote-controlled bomb. The bomb disposal squad are collecting more evidence."

Private TV channels aired footage showing the debris of the hotel and nearby shops destroyed in the blast. Blood could be seen scattered at the hotel's front along with damaged wooden chairs.

Mohammad Hussain, a senior police officer in Nowshera, told AFP: "The hotel was destroyed along with an adjacent hotel. Six nearby shops were badly damaged."

Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani condemned the attack in a statement and reiterated his government's resolve to stamp out the menace of militancy and terrorism from the country.

"Those playing with the lives of the innocent people have no religion and no faith, they are following their own nefarious designs," he said.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011