Islamabad: Two members of a banned militant group were killed and five others injured in an explosion in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Saturday, officials said.
The blast was caused by explosives planted in a car driven by Mubin Afridi, the spokesman of the outlawed Ansar-ul-Islam group, Peshawar police chief Sifwat Ghayur told reporters.
The other man killed in the attack was a friend of Afridi, he said.
The bomb containing about seven kilograms of explosives was detonated by a remote control when the car was in Hayatabad area on the outskirts of Peshawar, Ghayur said.
Afridi had enemies in the banned Lashkar-e-Islam group and the possibility that he was targeted by his rivals could not be "overlooked", the police chief said.
Police rounded up two suspects for questioning after the attack, Ghayur said.
The injured were mostly passers-by, police said, adding Afridi s car was completely destroyed by the blast.
TV channels beamed footage of parts lying strewn over a large area.
Ghayur said strict security arrangements had already been put in place at mosques and sensitive places across Peshawar for the holy month of Ramzan, which begins on Sunday in Pakistan.
The Ansar-ul-Islam and Lashkar-e-Islam are engaged in bitter rivalry to gain control of the Khyber tribal region located near Peshawar. Dozens of cadres of both groups have died in clashes since last year.
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