Bomber strikes rally, kills 27 in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – A suspected suicide bomber killed at least 27 people and injured 40 at an opposition rally Saturday in Pakistan’s insurgency-wracked northwest as police in Islamabad fired teargas and water cannons at hundreds of protesters demanding the ouster of President Pervez Musharraf.

The violence fueled fears that political turmoil will grow as Pakistan, still reeling from the assassination six week ago of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, approaches Feb. 18 national elections called to end eight years of military rule.

The unrest came as Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met with Musharraf and top Pakistani military leaders and discussed a possible expansion of U.S. counter-insurgency training for Pakistani security forces.

Mullen is the most senior of a string of U.S. military and intelligence officials to visit in recent weeks, an indication of growing alarm within the Bush administration over the expanding insurgency by al-Qaida-allied Islamic groups based in the tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

Pakistan has seen a surge in attacks on security forces and suicide bombings since Musharraf ordered an assault last summer on an Islamabad mosque held by radical Islamic students in which dozens of people died.

The bombing Saturday occurred in Charsadda, about 25 miles from the North West Frontier Province capital of Peshawar, at a rally attended by hundreds of supporters of the Awami National Party. At least 27 people died and more than 40 were injured, said NWFP Special Home Secretary Teepu Khan, a senior security official.

Meanwhile, clashes erupted in central Islamabad when police moved to disperse a protest by an estimated 500 anti-government lawyers, political activists and students.

The protesters gathered for a march to the home of former Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhury, who has been under house arrest since Musharraf sacked him and dozens of other jurists in November.