Updated

Three people were killed and 38 injured on Saturday when a bomb exploded in a bustling food market in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore, officials said.

The blast hit the street of food shops and stalls in the downtown area, days before the start of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

"The explosion was caused due to a bomb apparently planted somewhere in the street," Zulfiqar Hameed, a senior police official, told AFP.

"Three people have been killed in the blast. At least 38 others are injured who have been shifted to various hospital," Hasan Iqbal, a senior health department official, told AFP.

Lahore has been relatively peaceful in recent months, compared with other major cities marred by religious and ethnic violence.

Pakistan has for years been fighting homegrown Taliban insurgents in its border areas with Afghanistan.

The government says that more than 40,000 people have been killed in the war on terrorism during the last decade.