Rescue workers help an injured person after the blast in Faisalabad. (AFP)

Lahore, March 8 (Agencies): A massive car bomb exploded near an ISI office in the central Pakistani city of Faisalabad today, killing 20 people and injuring more than 100 others.

The car with the explosives was parked at a CNG station as the attackers could not get near the intelligence agency’s heavily-guarded office in the Civil Lines area of Faisalabad, regional police chief Aftab Cheema told PTI.

“It is yet to be determined whether the attackers abandoned the car near the CNG station or deliberately parked it there,” Cheema said.

The explosion, which occurred at about 11.30am (local time), destroyed the station, at least three buildings and dozens of cars near the ISI office. Twenty people were killed in the blast, Cheema said. Over 100 others were also injured.

Several bodies and injured persons were pulled out of the rubble of buildings that collapsed because of the explosion.

The injured were taken to hospitals and officials described the condition of 13 as serious. Doctors performed emergency surgery on at least eight persons.

District administration chief Naseem Sadiq also confirmed that the attack was carried out with a car bomb.

Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan said militants detonated the bomb by remote control and that the target was the ISI. He said the attack was revenge for the shooting of militant commander Omar Kundi in Faisalabad last year by security forces.

Pakistani TV footage showed piles of bricks and chunks of twisted metal from cars strewn across the neighbourhood. Rescue workers struggled to pull victims out of the rubble. Faisalabad, 260 km south of Islamabad, is home to Pakistan’s textile industry.