Bombing in Pakistan fruit market kills 22

Islamabad (AFP) - A bomb tore through a bustling fruit and vegetable market in the Pakistani capital Islamabad Wednesday, killing at least 22 people in the latest violence to hit government peace talks with the Taliban.

The bombing -- the deadliest in Islamabad since a huge truck bomb at the Marriott Hotel in 2008 -- left a 1.5-metre (five-foot) diameter crater and littered the site with body parts and guava fruit drenched in blood, an AFP reporter at the scene said.

The blast struck at around 8:00 am (0300 GMT) at the wholesale market near the capital's twin city Rawalpindi, as hundreds of grocers and sellers gathered to trade.

A bomb disposal official told AFP on condition of anonymity that the device was hidden in a fruit box and was packed with nuts and bolts to cause maximum carnage.

Javaid Qazi, the vice-chancellor of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences hospital, said 22 people had been killed and 96 wounded.

The attack comes as the government tries to negotiate an end to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan's (TTP) seven-year campaign of violence. Talks began between government and TTP intermediaries in February.

The Taliban said it was not to blame for the attack and has also denied some earlier bombings.

The United Baluch Army (UBA), one of several armed separatist groups in Baluchistan, claimed responsibility. The same group also claimed responsibility for a bomb blast on a train on Tuesday which killed 13 people in the southwestern town of Sibi.

"We carried out the attack in Islamabad in response to the military operation against us and we will launch more such attacks in other cities," said UBA spokesman Mureed Baluch.

The Frontier Corps (FC) began an operation against insurgents early Monday in the Kalat district, around 300 kilometres southwest of Quetta, in which up to 40 insurgents were killed.

More than 160 people have been killed in attacks since the start of the peace process, leading many to question its worth. It is also unclear whether the umbrella Taliban group can control all its factions.

- 'Bodies flying everywhere' -

Eyewitness Muhammad Tahir described carnage.

"The blast took place around 8:00, when we were standing there -- bodies were flying everywhere, bodies were flying at the height of 20 to 25 feet," he told AFP.

Ambulances rushed in and out carrying wounded people and dead bodies.

Senior local administration official Nauman Yousuf told AFP that it was "a planted bomb".

A spokesman for UN chief Ban Ki-moon said: "The Secretary-General deplores the recent terrorist attacks in Pakistan, including today?s bombing of a market in Islamabad and yesterday?s attack on a train in Baluchistan, incidents that led to killing and wounding of many people."

Thousands have been killed in militant violence but attacks on the capital, much of which is heavily guarded, have been rare in recent years.

Wednesday's blast came a little over a month after a gun and suicide bomb attack on a court complex in Islamabad killed 11 people including a judge.

The TTP also denied that attack, which was claimed by the Ahrar-ul-Hind splinter group, which rejects the peace process.

Fighting has erupted in northwest Pakistan between rival TTP factions since Sunday, and nine more people including two civilians were killed on Wednesday.

The clashes pitted supporters of Khan Said Sajna against followers of the late Hakimullah Mehsud, the TTP commander killed by a US drone in November, and have killed a total of 43 people in four days.

The government has freed more than 30 Taliban prisoners in the past week to try to spur talks with the militants, and on Friday the TTP said they would extend a ceasefire begun on March 1.

On March 26 a four-member government committee held its first direct meeting with members of the TTP's political council in North Waziristan tribal district.

The peace talks were a key campaign pledge by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif before he was elected to office for a third time last year.