“I want to express my outrage at the loss of so many innocent lives,” Mr. Ban told a press conference at United Nations Headquarters in New York, describing the bomb attack as appalling.

In a statement issued by his spokesperson Mr. Ban noted that many of the victims of the bombing were women.

“No cause can justify such inhuman and indiscriminate violence,” he said, extending his condolences and sympathies to the families of the victims and to the Pakistani Government.

Josette Sheeran, Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), also condemned the attack, as well as the killing of UN staff today in Kabul, Afghanistan, in a statement of her own.

Media reports say a car bomb was responsible for today’s attack in Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the site of numerous bombings and attacks this year.

On 9 October at least 50 people died after a suicide blast in Peshawar and a separate bombing a week later in the same city killed 12 others. Deadly explosions and gun attacks have also been recorded in other major cities across Pakistan this month, including the national capital, Islamabad.

News Tracker: past stories on this issue

Secretary-General strongly condemns latest deadly bomb attack in Pakistan