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At least nine killed in blast at Torkham

PESHAWAR: An explosion on the Pakistan side of a border crossing with Afghanistan on Tuesday killed at least nine persons and injured several others, officials said.

The blast occurred in a shop in the town of Torkham, about 50 km (30 miles) from Peshawar.

Officials in Peshawar having initially reported that 18 people were killed, later put the number of dead at seven, with 18 injured. However, local officials said nine people were been killed and 23 injured.

There was also confusion over the cause of explosion, police earlier quoted as saying that they believed the blast was caused by a bomb. But the authorities later said an exploding gas cylinder could have caused it.

Among the dead were Afghan refugee children. Another victim was an elderly Pakistani tribesman from the Khyber tribal agency. An official said many of the injured were children.

Police say they have no information about any possible motive for an attack, nor do they know whether the explosion was deliberate.

An investigation team has gone to Torkham from Peshawar to inspect the site.

The Torkham Gate is an important border crossing point between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Frontier province shelters more than a million Afghan refugees, most living in camps at Peshawar and Nowshera.

About 460 Afghan refugees were repatriated through Torkham on Monday under a programme sponsored by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Torkham attracts both local and foreign tourists, who often come from Peshawar through the historic Khyber Pass.

Officials say that public and private vehicles are usually checked at several posts by paramilitary and tribal police.-Internews