PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) -- A car bomb exploded on a crowded street in northwestern Pakistan Sunday, killing 37 people in the third blast to hit the troubled city of Peshawar in a week, officials said.

The latest explosion appeared to have been a bomb planted in a parked car and detonated by remote control, said police officer Zahid Khan. It went off in a crowded market that is the city's oldest bazaar near a mosque and a police station, officials said.

The blast damaged the mosque and nearby shops and caused many vehicles to go up in flames, said police officer Nawaz Khan.

The city's top government official, Sahibzada Anees, said 37 had died while 75 were under treatment at the city's Lady Reading Hospital.

Such attacks in Peshawar, which is the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, have claimed over 130 lives since last Sunday when two suicide bombers blew themselves up in a crowd of worshippers at a church, killing 85 people.

Then on Friday 19 people died when a bomb planted on a bus carrying government employees home for the weekend exploded in the Peshawar outskirts.

The bomb that went off Sunday was some 300 meters (yards) from the All Saints Church, which was the scene of last Sunday's carnage.

A book shop owner, Nazar Ali, had just opened his shop when the bomb went off.

"It was a huge blast that was followed by fire in vehicles. Thick black smoke covered the air and splinters spread all over. I saw people lying dead and bleeding all over," he said.

Many of the old buildings used in the historic Qissa Khawani market are constructed from wood which easily caught on fire when the bomb went off, said senior police officer Shafqat Malik.

Another man was shopping for breakfast when the bomb exploded.

"Suddenly there was a huge bang and I fell on the ground," said Adnan Hussain, speaking from the hospital. "My cousin Rizwan is dead and the other is critical."

One man at the hospital said that 13 members of a single family were among the dead. Mohammad Alam said that they had come to Peshawar from a nearby village to invite him to their son's marriage. He said they were in a van near the station when the bomb exploded.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. The Sunni militant group Jundullah claimed responsibility for the church attack, saying it targeted Christians to avenge the deaths of Muslims killed by U.S. drone strikes.

The new government of Nawaz Sharif has said it would like to negotiate with Pakistan's largest militant group, the Taliban, to end the bloodshed, but so far those efforts have made little progress and attacks like Sunday's have continued.

On Saturday, a spokesman for the Taliban criticized Sharif, saying comments by Sharif saying the militants must lay down their weapons and respect the constitution indicated the new leader is not serious about peace talks. Previously Sharif had not given preconditions for the talks.

"By telling us that we will have to lay down arms and respect the constitution, the prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, showed that he is following the policy of America and its allies," the spokesman said. "We will hold talks with (the government) only when it gets the real power to take decisions."

Also in northwestern Pakistan, two missiles from an American drone hit a compound in North Waziristan Sunday, killing three militants affiliated with the Punjab province branch of the Pakistani Taliban, said two intelligence officers. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Activists: Syria airstrike hits school, killing 12

BEIRUT (AP) -- A Syrian government air raid struck a high school in a rebel-held city in the country's north on Sunday, killing at least 12 people, most of them students, activists said.

The airstrike took place in the city of Raqqa, which is located on the Euphrates River and is the only provincial capital under rebel control in Syria's civil war, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Right said. President Bashar Assad's regime has relied heavily on its air force to strike opposition-held areas, including Raqqa.

The attack appeared to hit the yard in front of the school early Sunday morning, which is the first day of the work week at public schools in Syria.

Observatory director Rami Abdul-Rahman said at least eight of the dead were students, and that the death toll is likely to rise because many of the wounded are in critical condition.

Amateur videos posted online showed at least nine bodies, some of them missing limbs, lying on pockmarked-pavement strewn with rubble. At least four of the bodies appeared to be of young people. Another video shows pools of blood on the ground and a concrete-block wall destroyed in the bombing.

The videos appeared genuine and corresponded to other AP reporting of the events depicted.

China's 1st pilot free trade zone opens

BEIJING (AP) -- Operations formally kicked off Sunday at a new free trade zone in Shanghai that China's government has billed as a major step for financial reforms and economic experimentation, but significant changes look to be years away.

State media reported that a first batch of 25 Chinese and foreign companies were granted licenses to register in the zone.

The China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone is a nearly 29-square-kilometer district that covers four existing special trade zones in Pudong district, including one at the airport.

China's State Council formally announced rules for the new free trade zone on Friday. They outline goals to upgrade financial services, promote trade and improve governance as well as measures to encourage foreign investment in 18 sectors in the country's tightly regulated service industry.

There are also plans to experiment with the convertibility of China's tightly controlled currency, the yuan, and let market forces rather than regulators set interest rates.

The zone is expected to serve as a laboratory for such financial experiments before they are rolled out elsewhere in China. No timeline was given for any changes, but rules in the zone will be introduced over a three-year period, according to the announcement.

At a ceremony marking its opening, Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng said the government hoped the zone would act as "an experimental field to conduct economic reform" and promote economic development nationwide.

The Shanghai zone has been touted as the most important attempt at economic reform since the establishment of the country's first special economic zone in 1980 in Shenzhen, next door to Hong Kong.

That zone allowed in foreign investment aimed at harnessing cheap labor to build a manufacturing industry that became a driving force in helping China eventually become the world's second-biggest economy.

The government has pledged to open up 18 service industry sectors to foreign investment, including shipping, law and engineering. Foreign-owned performing arts agencies and medical institutions will be allowed.

The sale of video game consoles, which is banned in China, will also be allowed, pending approval from authorities of individual games and systems.

Another initiative will permit foreigners to set up joint venture talent management agencies with local partners.

The rules say the opening-up measures will be applicable to companies that are registered in the zone.

Foreign companies will also be allowed to provide some Internet services, though the official Xinhua News Agency reported before the launch that Internet restrictions would not be lifted, following a report by a Hong Kong newspaper that banned websites such as Facebook would be unblocked inside the zone.

Dai Haibo, deputy secretary general of Shanghai's government and vice-director of the zone's management committee, said it would take three years to determine whether the zone's rules and system were effective.

After three years, the country will build on the experience gleaned from the Shanghai free trade zone and there may be further reform goals, he told a news conference following the official opening ceremony.

Wei Yao, a China economist at Societe Generale, said in a research note that setting up the zone in Shanghai, a city of "great strategic importance," was a clear sign that policymakers wanted to push for fast economic liberalization.

"The framework that is shaping up looks rather promising, although details of most measures are to be put in place over the course of six months to a year," she wrote. "Like all previous economic experiments, this project is going to be a work in progress, subject to constant refinement."