At least 12 people were killed and dozens wounded when a bomb exploded in a market in Pakistan's troubled tribal region near the Afghan border, officials said.
The explosion hit a hotel and shops in a market in Jandola town in the South Waziristan region.
Intelligence officials said the blast killed at least 12 people, but a resident said many more people could have died in the explosion.
South Waziristan is part of Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal belt that stretches through rugged mountains and deserts along the border with Afghanistan.
Many al-Qaeda members fled to the region from Afghanistan after US-led forces ousted the Taliban in late 2001 and were given shelter by militant sympathisers from conservative Pashtun tribes that inhabit both sides of the border.