Ten people were killed and several more injured in a powerful explosion near a police check-post on the outskirts of the north-western Pakistani city of Peshawar on Saturday.

The blast destroyed a police check post in Badabher area of Peshawar, the capital of the North West Frontier Province, and damaged two nearby markets and about 15 vehicles.

TV channels reported that up to 10 people were feared killed in the attack. Bodies were flung up to 50 mt by the blast, which created a large crater. The injured were rushed to Peshawar's Lady Reading Hospital.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack, which was carried out as provincial legislators and parliamentarians were voting in polls to elect Pakistan's new president.