Rawalpindi, 2 Nov.(AKI) - A powerful blast outside a hotel in the northern Pakistani city of Rawalpindi on Monday has killed at least 24 people and injured 40 others, among them a Pakistani army Major.

Conflicting reports say the blast took place at the parking lot of the four-star Shalimar Hotel on Mall Road when a suicide bomber riding a motorcycle blew himself up. However, other Pakistani media say it was a car bomb.

Many of the dead were in a nearby bank and travel agencies' offices.

The blast hit a busy area where security is controlled by the Pakistani military, not far from the army's main headquarters as well as important government buildings.

Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari and prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani strongly condemned the attacks in Rawalpindi.

No militant group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. Hundreds of people have been killed in numerous attacks in recent weeks as the Pakistani army carries out an operation against Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants in the country's South Waziristan area.

The United Nations also announced on Monday that due to ongoing violence in the country, international staff would be evacuated from the country's volatile northwest.