9 killed as Pak building collapses

"Nine people have died, the victims were mostly shopkeepers or people living in the building" city police chief Iftikhar Ahmed told AFP.

He said 16 people had been admitted to the hospital, where condition of several injured was "critical."

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The debris has been cleared, he said.

Police and witnesses said the explosion caused by bursting of a gas cylinder was so massive that the entire structure collapsed.

"The explosion was caused by a gas cylinder in one of the shops in the building," local police officer, Mohammad Latif, told AFP.