ISLAMABAD, MAY 15, SPA -- At least 24 people including a number of Afghans were killed and several others injured in a powerful blast at a busy hotel in Peshawar at the lunch time Tuesday, police said. Officials feared that the death toll would considerably rise because many persons were seriously wounded. The Peshawar Mayor said that at least twenty-five persons were injured in the blast. The explosion rocked the Marhaba Hotel, owned by an Afghan national, which is located on the Naz Cinema Road, near historic Masjid Mahabat Khan, in the busiest area of Peshawar, neighbouring Afghanistan. A large number of Pakistani, and Afghans particularly traders, used to visit the hotel because of its delicious specialties. Eyewitnesses said that a number of Afghan nationals were present in the dining hall when the blast occurred. There were conflicting reports about the blast whether it was a planted explosive device that went off or it was a suicide bombing. The owner of the hotel was also killed in the blast. Parts of bodies of those hit by the explosion fell outside the dining hall. North West Frontier Province (NWFP) Education Minister said that the explosion was meant to deteriorate law and order situation in his province.--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/449940