Islamabad: Four blasts ripped through crowded bazars and police checkpoints in northwestern Pakistani cities of Peshawar and Dera Ismail Khan killing 13 people and injuring over 100 others, a day after Taliban targeted ISI's provincial headquarters in Lahore that claimed 35 lives.
Two bombs went off within minutes of each other in Qisa Khawani and nearby Kabari Bazar, destroying shops at a time when the markets were crowded with people, while suspected suicide bombers attacked police checkpoints on the outskirts of Peshawar and Dera Ismail Khan.
Gun battles then broke out between the police and militants in the bazars in which two suspected terrorists were killed and as many arrested, provincial police chief Malik Mohammad Navid told reporters.
The first blast occurred in Kabari Bazar which sparked off a big fire in the market located in a narrow lane and at least eight vehicles were burnt, channels said.
Minutes later a second bomb went off in Qisa Khawani market across the road which also caused a fire destroying a large number of shops, they added.
Geo TV reported six persons were killed and 100 injured in the twin blasts, while police official Yaseen Khan said four people died in the attack on the checkpoint in Peshawar.
In the fourth attack, a policeman and two passer-bys were killed and 13 people wounded when a suicide attacker exploded an auto-rickshaw near police checkpoint in Dera Ismail Khan, AFP quoted police chief Iqbal Khan to say.
The attacks came hours after Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for yesterday's attack in Lahore.
"Two separate timed bombs were planted on motorbikes, which exploded in quick succession," a senior police officer said.
"The operation is still continuing. This is a war. We will fight until we win," he said.
"Some of the wounded are in a serious condition," reports said, adding an emergency had been declared in local hospital where the injured were rushed.
Thick black smoke spewed into the air, as dazed passers-by staggered back surveying the damage, television footage showed.
NWFP Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti has ordered an inquiry into the blasts. President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani condemned the attacks.
Peshawar is the capital of Pakistan's NWFP and is the entry point to country's tribal area bordering Afghanistan.
The city has recently been hit by a chain of deadly bomb attacks with as many as 12 causing a large number of casualties.
A car bomb outside a cinema house last week killed 10 people.