Pakistan: Homicide blast kills 20 at political rally

Homicide blast kills 20 at political rally:

A suicide bomber blew himself up at an opposition election rally in northwestern Pakistan on Saturday, killing at least 20 people and wounding 25, government and party officials said.

The attacker struck as hundreds of people gathered for a meeting of the Awami National Party (ANP), a nationalist ethnic Pashtun party, in the town of Charsadda in the troubled North West Frontier Province, they said.

Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz linked the attack to a wave of other bombings blamed on Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants that have claimed more than 70 lives this year. "Yes, it was most probably a suicide attack. I t was close to the stage but none of the ANP leaders there were hurt," Nawaz told AFP. He said that 14 people were dead and 24 injured."This is very significant that the ANP rally has been hit... these people are trying to hit at everyone, the threat posed by them is challenging everyone in Pakistan."

Death toll now at 25 Real nice. Bomb went off as a member of the ANP was reciting verses from the Koran. It was the 3rd suicide attack aimed at politicians in the region in the last 8 months.