It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the blast, but lawyers at Peshawar High Court said it was an attempt to sabotage a movement opposing the suspension of the country's top judge by President Pervez Musharraf.

"A blast happened outside the gates of the high court. It was a car bomb, we have started investigations," senior police officer Iftikhar Khan said.

Nine people were wounded, two critically, said Jan Baz, a doctor at the city's main Lady Reading hospital.

The car, a small Suzuki parked in a bay opposite the court building, was destroyed by the blast and its bonnet (hood) landed several metres (yards) away on the lawn of a cultural centre, an AFP reporter at the scene said.

Bomb disposal squad chief Hukam Khan said the bomb contained three kilograms (6.6 pounds) of "high quality explosives" and was placed on the front seat of the car.

"Our initial assessment is that it was a time-bomb," he said.

North West Frontier Province information minister Asif Iqbal Daudzai said the bombing was part of a "conspiracy to destabilise" the provincial government, which is led by an alliance of hardline Islamic parties.

But around 250 black-suited lawyers chanting anti-Musharraf slogans later staged a protest outside the court, where they blocked traffic and staged a sit-in on the main road.

"This bomb blast is designed to intimidate the lawyers," said Latif Afridi, president of the Peshawar High Court Bar Association. "But their morale is high and such tactics cannot scare them."

He said the authorities had failed to increase security despite the fact that last week an anonymous telephone caller had claimed that two suicide bombers dressed as lawyers had entered the court.

Police found nothing at the time.

The court building has previously been the venue for regular protests by lawyers since Musharraf suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on March 9, sparking a deepening political crisis.

Chaudhry launched a veiled attack on Musharraf's eight-year military rule in a seminar at the Supreme Court in Islamabad on Saturday.

"Secret agencies are committing such acts to sabotage our movement against Musharraf," said senior bar association member Qaiser Rashid.