PESHAWAR (Pakistan) - BOMBS tore through the Pakistan city of Peshawar killing ten people on Thursday, after the Taliban claimed a deadly attack in Lahore and threatened further mayhem to avenge an offensive.

Three explosions wounded more than 100 people in Peshawar, as fears grew of mounting militant revenge for a punishing, month-long military assault against Islamist extremists across three northwest districts.

In the first attacks, devices planted in two motorcycles exploded in quick succession in crowded market places, sending smoke spewing into the air and gutting dozens of shops, said senior police investigator Shafqat Malik.

'Eight people were killed and a 100 injured ? 10 of them seriously. People are still bringing the wounded and we've declared an emergency,' Dr Alamgir Shinwari said from the main government hospital in Peshawar.

Running gun battles then broke out between police and insurgents in the northwest's biggest city, with two suspects shot dead and two arrested, provincial police chief Malik Mohammad Navid told reporters.

Flames ripped through the bazaar and charred cars lay flattened in the city, which lies on the fringes of lawless tribal areas where Washington says Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants are holed up, plotting attacks on the West.

Shortly afterwards, a suicide bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into a police checkpoint on the outskirts of Peshawar, killing two policeman and injuring 15 people including civilians, officials said.

A fourth bomb blast and gunfire was heard near a hospital in the city of Dera Ismail Khan, about 300 kilometres south of Peshawar, police said, but there was no immediate word on casualties.

A spokesman for Pakistan?s most wanted man, Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud, earlier warned of more 'massive attacks' in retaliation for Islamabad's ties with Washington and its northwest offensive against militants.

Baitullah Mehsud commands Tehreek-e-Taliban and is Pakistan's most wanted militant, with a US$5 million (S$7.5 million) reward posted by the United States. -- AFP