Islamabad, Oct 27 (IANS): At least 11 people were injured, three critically, when a bomb exploded in a busy market in Pakistan's Peshawar city Thursday morning.

The blast took place in the busy Rampura bazar in Peshawar, the troubled capital of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, The Nation newspaper reported.

Witnesses said the blast took place when a shopkeeper tried to open the shutters of his shop. Four shops and four vehicles were destroyed in the impact.

The blast comes the morning after another explosion in the city Wednesday evening injured 12.

Giving details of Thursday's incident, the head of the bomb disposal squad, Shafqaut Ullah Malik, told journalists that around three kilograms of explosives were used.

"We have defused more than 600 IEDs in the city this year," said Malik. "The purpose of these small blasts is to create panic among people."

Peshawar has been frequently targeted by terrorists, with hundreds of civilians and policemen estimated to have been killed after the start of the US-led war on terror in Afghanistan.

On Aug 11, a woman suicide bomber attacked a police checkpost in the same area and killed five policemen and a woman while injuring 12 others.

The same day, a bomb planted in a handcart exploded near a police vehicle, killing five policemen and injuring 15 in the city's Lahori Gate area.