The bomber was on foot and he ran away when security personnel manning a checkpost asked him to stop.
He detonated the explosives strapped to his body near a missionary school, opposite the offices of the Pakistan International Airlines, on the Mall Road.
Windows of some offices in the nearby State Life building were smashed. The school was closed for Christmas and winter vacations. Police were not sure about the bomber’s real target.
The injured were taken to the Lady Reading Hospital and the Combined Military Hospital. An official of the LRH said five of the injured were in serious condition.
According to police, constable Gul Nawaz from Ormar village near Peshawar and three civilians were killed.
According to bomb disposal personnel, the explosives used by the bomber weighed eight to 10kgs. They said the legs of the bomber had been found.
SSP (Investigation) Ghulam Hussain told Dawn that the bomber had also tied explosives to his legs and appeared to have carried three triggers. He said ball bearings were also found at the site.
“The explosives show that the bombers who have blown themselves up in the city so far belonged to the same militant group,” he said.
People who had gathered at the place said police had fired in the air after the blast. Heavy contingents of police and other security personnel cordoned off the area and stopped traffic on the Arbab Road and Mall Road for some time. All shopping centres and banks in the area and the PIA offices were closed.
Superintendent of Police for Coordination Alam Shinwari said: “Intelligence agencies have told us that there could be more bombings and the number of intending bombers is high.”
The cantonment area, commonly known as Saddar, attracts shoppers from all over the city and is always congested and busy.
This was the second bombing in Peshawar in three days. A suicide bomber had hit the Peshawar Press Club on Tuesday, killing three people, including police constable Riazuddin.
“The threat is now coming from three different regions. It is virtually coming from all directions. These people have dispersed and have formed small cells to attack civilians and law-enforcement personnel,” a security official said.
NWFP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Husain said frequent bomb blasts had forced people to stay indoors and badly affected the business.
He told journalists that bombers were coming from the Khyber and Kurram agencies and Darra Adamkhel.
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