A bomb apparently targeting a Pakistan air force vehicle ripped through a van in the country's northwestern city of Peshawar on Wednesday, killing nine people, officials said.

Glass, metal and pieces of human flesh littered the ground near a busy market on the city's Kohat road after the explosion, which investigators said was likely to have been detonated remotely.

"At least nine people have been killed in the blast and 34 others wounded," senior administration official Javed Marwat told AFP.

Shafqat Malik, a senior official with the bomb disposal squad said the blast hit the van as it approached a parked car and appeared to have been targeting a Pakistan Air Force van which was also damaged in the explosion.

"Apparently the bomb was planted in a car parked on the roadside and it contained 30 to 40 kilogrammes of explosives, including artillery shells and ball bearings," Malik told AFP.

Nobody immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but Taliban militants have been carrying out similar bombings and suicide attacks in the province, which neighbours Afghanistan.

Attacks blamed on Islamists have killed more than 5,200 people in Pakistan since government troops raided an extremist mosque in the capital Islamabad five years ago, according to an AFP tally.

Earlier this month, a suicide car bomber rammed a US consulate vehicle in Peshawar, killing at least two people.

Up to 19 people were wounded when the bomber struck during morning rush hour near the office of the UN Refugee Agency and residential quarters used by the US consulate in Peshawar.

Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militant groups who are sworn enemies of the United States frequently carry out attacks and have strongholds in the tribal belt near Peshawar.