The blast took place near a police station in Peshawar on Sunday in an area crowded with shops and people, Pakistani police said.

Police officer Zahid Khan said the blast appeared to have been caused by a bomb planted in a parked car and remotely detonated. At least 33 people were killed in the attack with more than 70 others wounded, police and medics said.

The blast also damaged a nearby mosque and caused many vehicles to catch fire, police officer Nawaz Khan said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Peshawar lies near the frontier tribal areas of the northwest along the Afghan border, where Taliban and al-Qaeda linked militants have their strongholds. The city is located 196 km (121 miles) from Pakistan's capital Islamabad.

Islamist violence has been on the rise in Pakistan in the past few months, undermining newly-elected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's efforts to mitigate the insurgency by launching peace talks with the Pakistani Taliban.

Sunday's bomb went off only 300 meters (328 yards) from the All Saints Church where just last week a bomb by a Taliban affiliated group killed more than 80 people. It was the deadliest attack ever on Christians in the predominantly Muslim Pakistan.

hc/tj (Reuters, AP, AFP)