The incident took place in Hazara town.

"47 people have been killed, the death toll may rise, it was a remote-controlled bomb." Wazir Khan Nasir, senior police officer in Quetta, told AFP.

Provincial home secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani confirmed the incident and told AFP that the dead included women and children.

Azhar Ali Shah, a second police officer, confirmed the death toll, which had initially been put at 10.

Provincial home secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani told AFP that the dead included women and children.

"We fear more casualties. We have announced an emergency in hospitals," he said.

Durrani said the bomb was planted near the pillar of a building in a bazaar.

"The building collapsed due to the intensity of the bomb, some people have been trapped inside," he said.

Officials and witnesses said an angry mob surrounded the area after the blast and were not allowing policemen, rescue workers and reporters to reach the site.

"They were angry and started a protest, some of them pelted police with stones," home secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani told AFP.

"Some of them were armed and were firing gunshots in the air, now they have allowed police and rescue workers to reach on spot," he added.

An AFP photographer counted 30 dead bodies in only one hospital.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2013