Others killed in the tragic mishap included Nazim Union Council Andher Sher, Mohammad Ali Safi and Naib Nazim Mian Iftikhar and Nazim Union Nauthia, Asif Khan Baghi while another nazim was also reportedly missing after the incident.
The condition of the Superintendent of Police (SP) Peshawar City Akbar Khan according to hospital sources was critical.
The explosion occurred in an extremely sensitive area, which is dominated by Shia community and home to scores of Imambargahs and Imambaras from where daily processions are taken out. According to some reports the suicide bomber blew himself up near the Shahjee tea store after the police high-ups including CCPO Malik Saad, DSP Raziq and SP Akbar had just returned from visiting an Imambargah of Fakhr ul Hassan Kararvi for security reasons.
The dead are mostly police jawans who had cordoned off the area for safe passage of the Muharram procession. The security agencies have sealed the entire area and declared emergency in the nearby Lady Reading Hospital. The power breakdown in the area soon after the blast created hurdles in starting the rescue operation. The pieces of the dead bodies were seen scattered all around in the area.
The security agencies have made foolproof security arrangements this time in the sensitive points in provincial capital as they feared some sabotage activity.
The sensitive localities of the city were closed for all kinds of movement day and night and the people had to pass through physical search by the law enforcers at the entry points in areas dominated by the Shia sect. It may be mentioned here that Malik Saad was posted in first week of the current month in place of Haji Habib-ur-Rehman.
Agencies add: Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao said the police force was apparently the target. He said the bombing was a "very sad incident" and part of attempts to create unrest and chaos. He said security forces already on high alert would be further beefed up following the explosion.
"There is no crater in the ground, and it is possible that it was a suicide attack, but we cannot say that with authority at the moment," Sherpao told AFP.
While the blast occurred just metres away from Qasim Ali Khan mosque, the largest Sunni mosque in the city, it was also close to a Shia community centre, which had just been visited by the police caught in the explosion.
"When they went out there was an explosion. It terrified us, the noise was deafening," Sayed Qainul Hassan, the head of the community centre, told Reuters.
"We have reports of 14 people killed, including six police," a police inspector Amanullah Khan said.
A senior security official said the bombing was most likely a suicide attack, adding that the two severed legs of the suspected bomber were recovered from the site.
The explosion spread panic in the bustling city, and an emergency was declared at hospitals as ambulances raced in the casualties. The devastating blast left blood and limbs littered over the narrow street as emergency workers picked up the mutilated bodies.
"I was standing outside my house when the blast occurred and I was hit by shrapnel," a shocked witness, Mohammad Rahim, said at the city's Lady Reading Hospital.
Meanwhile, NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani has strongly condemned bomb blast in Peshawar and appealed the masses to show restrain and calm. Talking to a private TV channel, the chief minister expressed grief and deep sorrow over the killings particularly police officers.
He said that the security was further tightened and police patrolling increased in the city and noted that the government would provide all facilities to the injured persons.
It was the second bomb explosion in as many days in Pakistan. On Friday a suicide bomber blew himself at a top hotel in Islamabad, killing himself and a security guard.
Investigators probing the suicide blast at the Marriott hotel in Islamabad said on Saturday they were looking at possible links to pro-Taliban extremists fighting government forces near the Afghan border.
"Experts are examining the few remains of the bomber's body in a bid to identify him," said the interior ministry's crisis management chief Brigadier Javed Cheema.
Officials said a sketch of the bomber could not be prepared as no witnesses had so far come forward, nor had hotel security cameras filmed the attacker. Interior ministry officials said no group had yet claimed responsibility for Friday's attack.
Authorities had placed major cities, including Karachi and Peshawar, on high alert after the Marriott blast and the US and Britain warned their nationals to exercise caution.