Islamabad  - An explosion in Pakistan's garrison town of Rawalpindi killed at least 10 people and injured dozens Monday, police said.

The blast occurred outside a state-run bank and a private hotel, a few hundred metres from the Pakistani army's headquarters, which was attacked by Taliban militants last month.

Ishtiaq Shah, a senior police official, said more than 10 people had died in the blast that occurred when government employees and security personnel were withdrawing their salaries from the bank.

He told Samaa television that dozens of people were injured.

The nature of the blast was not immediately clear.

Geo News private channel cited witnesses as saying that "several bodies and injured" were lying at the scene.

Television footage showed police cordoning off the blast site, with ambulances and emergency vehicles at the scene. (dpa)