ISLAMABAD: Six people were killed and over 18 wounded in a blast in Jehan Model Town on Sihala Road near Yamaha Chowk here Tuesday night, police sources said.

As the administration termed it a gas cylinder blast, an explosive expert and eyewitnesses declared it sabotage by unknown miscreants. Reliable sources said a powerful bomb was planted under a table in a restaurant which exploded with a loud bang while labourers and truck drivers were eating their dinner. The restaurant (Khyber Hotel) caught fire following the blast and most of the people were scorched badly. It was an open tea and eating point, which was blown up completely and stuff of the hotel scattered in a radius of about 500 yards.

Locals rushed to the scene of occurrence on hearing sound of the blast at about 10.15pm and started rescuing the people trapped under the debris of the hotel. Locals said they witnessed things blowing up in the air after the blast.

Rescuers shifted the wounded people to different hospitals of the twin-cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. While the dead were removed to PIMS. Locals while rejecting the theory of gas cylinder blast said a regular gas connection was provided to the hotel and the owner never used gas cylinder. The bomb disposal squad with explosive experts of different investigation and intelligence agencies reached the scene of the incident and started collecting evidences. “Circumstantial evidence indicates that it was a terrorist act,” a detector said adding gas cylinder blast could not cause such a large-scale destruction.

“It could be an attempt to blow up the main gas pipeline that supplies gas to the area,” an investigator said. However, the agencies were examining every aspect to determine the nature of the blast, he added.

Another expert engaged in the investigation revealed that potassium chloride type explosive material was used in the blast that caused large-scale damage.

Deputy Commissioner Islamabad, Amer Ali Ahmad, when contacted, claimed that four people were killed and 13 sustained injuries in the incident. He said the nature of explosion could not be determined yet, adding, experts were examining the same.

He said three bodies and same number of injured were taken to PIMS while another body and six wounded were shifted to Fauji Foundation Hospital and four to District Headquarters Hospital, Rawalpindi.

Names of the dead and injured could not be ascertained immediately. Online adds: The explosion caused a three feet wide and one-foot deep crater on the ground. Eyewitness spoke of a suspicious character entering the hotel moments before the blast.