Two children and a woman were killed and four others were wounded in a gas cylinder explosion in a shop in Gulistan-e-Jauhar area of the port city on Wednesday.
The deceased have been identified as Saeeda Ali, 32, Fatima Ali, 4, and Abdullah, 2. Police said the deceased children were siblings. The woman came with her children to visit her brother, whose house is above the shop where the explosion took place.
The sound of the blast was heard at distant areas due to its intensity. The blast was so severe that it destroyed three shops and overturned a vehicle, injuring its driver, who is reportedly in critical condition.
Security forces cordoned off the area and shifted the injured and the bodies to a local hospital.
A bomb disposal squad was called to determine the nature of the blast, said police, adding that it will ascertain whether the explosion was caused by batteries or from the explosion of a cylinder.