Blast at Pakistan election rally kills 16

By Kamran Haider

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed 16 people and wounded 25 at an election rally in Pakistan on Saturday, raising security fears for the February 18 vote that could help restore stability in the nuclear-armed country.

Violence has intensified in Pakistan in recent months, with the army battling militants in the northwest and a string of suicide bombs in towns and cities.

Imtiaz Gillani, information minister of North West Frontier Province, where the attack took place on a rally by a party opposed to President Pervez Musharraf, said 16 people were killed, including three security men, and 25 people wounded.

"It was a suicide bombing. They've found the head of the suicide bomber," said an Interior Ministry spokesman.

He also said the death toll was 16 although the provincial health minister said earlier it seemed 20 had died.

Awami National Party provincial president Afrasiab Khattak was leading the rally in the town of Charsadda.

"There was an explosion at my meeting. There was a big bang and I saw some people getting hit," he told Dawn Television, adding that he had not been injured.

The ANP is a secular party competing with religious parties in the legislative elections which were postponed from January 8 after opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was killed in a suicide attack on Dec 27.