ISLAMABAD: At least 17 people, including two women, were killed and nearly 50 injured when a bomb fitted in a bus went off on the outskirts of Pakistan’s restive northwestern city of Peshawar on Friday.

The bus was carrying lower rank government officials back home into the nearby town of Charsadda. Police said that about 70 persons were on board when the explosion occurred.

“It was a planted bomb. As the vehicle reached Gulbela area, it went off killing 17 people and injuring 47 others,” said Zahirul Islam, Peshawar’s deputy commissioner.

“Since the rear of the vehicle was affected the most, it seems, the bomb was planted there,” he added.

Footage aired on TV stations showed bloodied pieces of human flesh which littered the seats, along with blood-stained clothes and pieces of twisted metal. The dead and injured were shifted to hospitals in Peshawar and Charsadda.

Peshawar borders the country’s volatile tribal belt, a stronghold of Taliban , al Qaida and affiliated militant groups. The city has suffered the most in terror attacks, more than any other part of the country over the past six years.

At least 84 people were killed last Sunday in twin-suicide bombing on a church in Peshawar. It was one of the worst attacks on Christians in the country. Terrorists linked to the Pakistani Taliban said they carried out the bombing.

About 20 people were killed when another bus carrying government workers was bombed in the same area in June 2012.