KOHAT, Pakistan, Sept. 8 (UPI) -- At least 20 people are dead and 90 others injured after a remote-controlled bomb went off in the northwestern Pakistan city of Kohat, local authorities said.
District Police Officer Dilwar Bagash told Pakistan's English-language newspaper Dawn that terrorists placed explosive material in a pickup truck and parked the vehicle inside a police compound.
The bomb was detonated Tuesday evening just as male residents of the police compound had left their homes for prayers with their children.
Witnesses said the blast was so devastating that it shook the entire city, completely or partially destroying hundreds of buildings.
Thirty-five homes in the police compound were reduced to rubble.
Rescue workers expected the death toll to go higher because several victims were buried under debris.
Kohat authorities said they had received intelligence that terrorists might strike at a sensitive place before or during the Eid holidays.
