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35 killed in bomb blast in Pakistan

The explosion took place in a market in Jamrud
The explosion took place in a market in Jamrud

A bomb blast in northwest Pakistan has left 35 people dead and wounded more than 60 others.

The explosion took place in a market in Jamrud, one of the towns of the troubled Khyber tribal region.

The town also serves as part of the main supply route for NATO forces operating in Afghanistan.

Officials said the dead included two children, aged nine and ten, and three tribal policemen.

There has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing but local residents suggested it was a tribal dispute.

''The total number of deaths in the blast is 35 while 69 people were wounded," a senior administration official, Shakeel Khan Umarzai, told AFP.

Another top official in Khyber, Mutahir Zeb, said the target of the attack is not immediately clear.

"According to initial information, it was a remote-controlled device planted in a passenger pickup van," he said.

The burnt out wreckage of at least 15 cars littered the scene next to the shattered glass of at least nine destroyed shopfronts.