Suicide bomber kills 26 at Pakistan political rally

A suicide bomber believed to have been targeting Pakistan’s interior minister set off a powerful explosion Saturday that killed at least 26 people and injured dozens, including the minister, Pakistani authorities said.

Officials said the blast, at a political gathering in the restive North-West Frontier Province, appeared to be a renewed challenge by Islamic insurgents to President Pervez Musharraf’s government.

Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao, who suffered minor injuries in the attack, is the senior civilian official in charge of the country’s security affairs and a highly symbolic target.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but suspicion fell on Islamic militants who have established a strong presence in Pakistan’s tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

The explosion took place in the town of Charsadda, about 20 miles northeast of provincial capital Peshawar, where Sherpao had addressed supporters at a rally. State-run television showed Sherpao walking unassisted to his car after the blast, blood running down his face and splattered on his white tunic.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam described Sherpao’s injuries as minor, and said he was alert and had conferred by telephone with other government officials.

Several insurgent organizations have found shelter in Pakistan’s wild borderlands, and all of them oppose Musharraf’s alliance with the United States in its declared war on terrorism after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The groups include Pakistani militants, Taliban-allied forces who slip back and forth across the border with Afghanistan, and foreign Al Qaeda elements who have regrouped and rearmed in the tribal areas, U.S. intelligence officials say.

Musharraf, who was on a visit to Bosnia-Herzegovina, issued a statement saying “acts of terrorism will not weaken Pakistan’s resolve to fight terrorism.”

Security officials said guards had foiled the attacker’s efforts to move close to Sherpao. Once the bomber realized he had aroused suspicion, they said, he detonated his explosives.

Witnesses described a scene of chaos, with body parts and debris strewn over the area and wounded people crying for help. Fiaz Tooru, a police inspector general, said investigators had recovered the bomber’s severed head and torso, and were trying to identify him.

“I saw a ball of fire as the interior minister was proceeding toward his car,” said Sajid Khan, who was part of Sherpao’s entourage. “I blacked out, and as I regained consciousness I saw dead bodies and wounded lying in pools of blood.”

Sherpao’s son, lawmaker Sikandar Khan Sherpao, also was reported to have been wounded. At least two of Sherpao’s aides and two members of his security detail were killed. The small hospital in Charsadda was quickly overwhelmed, and the most seriously hurt were taken to hospitals in Peshawar. Hospital officials said the death toll could rise because a number of people had suffered critical injuries.

Sherpao appeared later on Pakistani television and said the attack had been intended as a “targeted killing.”

“I was the target,” he said, adding that Afghan President Hamid Karzai had telephoned to wish him well. Like Sherpao, Karzai is an ethnic Pashtun, the tribal group that dominates the border areas.

Peshawar and its environs have been the scene of dozens of bombings in recent months.

Hours earlier, a small blast went off at Peshawar’s international airport. There were no casualties, but authorities were concerned by the assailant’s ability to get past security and plant the device in the arrivals terminal.

The bombings came a day after an explosion of unknown origin killed at least three suspected Islamic militants in Pakistan’s Waziristan region, a tribal area considered a haven of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. The explosion took place in a house said to be owned by a pro-Taliban cleric.

Pakistani news reports said a missile attack caused the explosion, but officials said a bomb-making effort had gone awry. The United States military is believed to have aided Pakistan in strikes against militants in Waziristan and other tribal areas, but the issue is an extremely sensitive one for Musharraf’s government.

Across the border, Western and Afghan officials said at least 21 insurgents were killed Saturday in clashes in areas of eastern and southern Afghanistan close to Pakistan.

The confrontations included a firefight between Afghan police and suspected Taliban militants in eastern Khowst province that ended with an airstrike by NATO forces. Coalition officials said the strike killed 11 militants.

Earlier, in southern Helmand province, 10 Taliban fighters were killed in what began as a ground battle and also ended in an airstrike, a spokeswoman for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces said.

In recent months, Musharraf and Karzai have traded acrimonious accusations over who bears the responsibility for Pakistan-based militants crossing into Afghanistan to launch attacks against Western and Afghan troops. The two leaders are to meet Monday in Turkey in an effort to smooth differences.

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king@latimes.com

Special correspondent Ali reported from Peshawar and Times staff writer King from Istanbul.