Peshawar, 9 October (AKI) - At least 41 people have been killed and 100 others injured after a suspected car bomb exploded on Friday at a market in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, located in the volatile North West Frontier Province.

The powerful explosion took place at the Karachi Bazaar near a busy shopping area.

"The bomb was planted in a car parked in the market," said information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain, quoted by Pakistan's Geo News.

However, it was not immediately clear if it was a remote-controlled device or a suicide attack. "We are investigating whether it was a suicide blast or the device was planted in the vehicle," the minister told reporters.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani have strongly condemned the blast.

In his message, Zardari said the perpetrators of such heinous crime would not be spared. He expressed condolence over the loss of innocent lives and said the government was committed to root out terrorism from the country.

The attack takes place only days after a suicide bomber killed five people at a United Nations office in the capital, Islamabad and as the Pakistani army prepares for a new offensive in the tribal regions of South Waziristan, a stronghold of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.