33 killed in blast at Peshawar's historic bazaar

Rescue workers, police officers and civilians gather at the site of a car bombing in Peshawar, Pakistan, on Sunday.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Witness: "Everything was on fire. Women and children were burning."
• 33 people are killed and 75 are injured at the historic Qissa Khawani bazaar
• A car carrying 220 kilograms of explosives blows up
• Peshawar has endured a violent week, with 98 others killed in blasts

Peshawar, Pakistan -- At least 33 people were killed after a bomb exploded at a bazaar in Peshawar, Pakistani authorities said.

A car carrying 220 kilograms (440 pounds) of explosives detonated in the city's historic Qissa Khawani bazaar, destroying at least 10 shops, several vehicles and leaving a huge crater, said Shafqat Malik, chief of the bomb disposal unit.

Qissa Khawani bazaar, or the "storytellers' market," was the site of a bloody massacre in April 1930 when British soldiers fired on peaceful demonstrators, killing hundreds. At the time, Pakistan was part of India -- and India was under British rule.

Alamzeb Khan was working at a nearby tea stall when he felt the earth shake. The impact of the blast knocked him to the ground.

"When I got up, everything was on fire. Women and children were burning in (a) Suzuki pickup, and a number of vehicles were destroyed, besides the shops (that) were also on fire," Khan said.

The death toll is expected to rise, as most of the 75 wounded are critically injured, said Dr. Arshad Javed, chief executive of Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar.

A gruesome week

Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan's volatile Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has endured a violent week.

On Monday, 81 people were killed in a suicide bombing at a Protestant church in one of the deadliest attacks ever on the Christian community in Pakistan.

A splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility, saying the attack was in response to U.S. drone strikes in tribal areas.

And on Friday, at least 17 people were killed and more than 30 others wounded in an explosion that ripped through a bus carrying government employees.

Sikander Khan Sherpao, senior minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, suggested the attack had been carried out by forces wanting to sabotage recent efforts by the national government to pursue peace talks with the Pakistani Taliban.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for Sunday's attack at the bazaar.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is rife with Islamic extremists and has been the site of clashes between Pakistani security forces and militants.

Earlier this month, Pakistani officials announced plans to pursue peace talks with Taliban militants and withdraw troops from parts of the volatile northwestern region, which borders Afghanistan.