(CBS/AP) A suicide bomber killed 15 people at a rally for Pakistan's suspended chief justice Tuesday, officials said, ratcheting up tension in a country already reeling from a burst of violence by Islamist extremists.

Pakistani security officials tell CBS News that the head of the suspected bomber had been found at the scene. CBS News' Farhan Bokhari reports local television was showing images of body parts strewn about the area where the rally was taking place.

The attack came before a verdict in a legal battle that has pitched judge Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry against President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and which could determine the U.S.-backed military ruler's political future.

Musharraf condemned the blast, which followed a string of suicide attacks on security forces and the storming of Islamabad's radical Red Mosque, as a "terrorist act."

However, Chaudhry's supporters accused authorities of being behind the latest mayhem in the capital.

Chaudhry was still in a car heading toward the district court in Islamabad to address lawyers who have led mass protests against his suspension when the attacker struck at about 8:30 p.m.

Kamal Shah, a top Interior Ministry official, said 15 people were killed and 44 others wounded. Opposition party activists, police officers and bystanders were believed to be among the victims.

Three security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record, said it was a suicide attack and that the severed head of the victim had been found.

The attacker blew himself up on a tree-lined street leading to the large tent erected next to the court just as hundreds of people converged on the area, which was also busy with evening shoppers.

Police ran yellow tape around the scene of the blast, where pools of blood, pieces of flesh and scattered shoes lay on the asphalt next to a blood-spattered car.

"I was not far away from the stage set up for the chief justice when I heard a big bang," said Tahir Abbas, a lawyer who had come to attend the rally.

The attacker struck next to stalls set up by Pakistan's two main opposition parties of exiled former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif.

Chaudhry was still several kilometers (miles) away at the time and arrived shortly afterward at the scene, where police ushered his vehicle toward another entrance to the tent.

He spoke briefly with lawyers, who said he had offered prayers for the victims, but canceled his speech and left.

"This was an attack on the chief justice," said Munir Malik, one of Chaudhry's lawyers.

Asked who could be behind it, Malik accused Pakistan's intelligence agencies, and said the government wanted "to get rid of the chief justice."

However, Raja Pervez Ashraf, a leader of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party, said the attacker had targeted her activists.

"Most among the dead and injured are our supporters," Ashraf said.

Television footage showed supporters of Bhutto wailing with grief and chanting slogans against the government.

Musharraf "condemned in the strongest terms the latest terrorist act which took place in Islamabad," the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan reported.

He ordered an immediate inquiry and appealed to the public "to remain calm, vigilant and assist the authorities in unearthing the culprits and bringing them to justice."

Shah said it was too early to "raise a finger at someone" in connection with the attack.

Some analysts and diplomats expect Bhutto to team up with Musharraf in a power-sharing government after elections due later this year. She was the only opposition leader to voice strong support for the crackdown on the Red Mosque.

Bombings and suicide attacks blamed on Islamist extremists had already killed more than 100 people since Musharraf's decision to attack militants holed up in the mosque and deploy troops in militant strongholds near the Afghan border.

Leaders of the Taliban and al Qaeda have called for revenge attacks, and the latest suicide blast killed three soldiers in the volatile North Waziristan region earlier Tuesday.

However, there had been no indication that they would target Chaudhry, whose refusal to resign in the face of charges of misconduct has catalyzed opposition to Musharraf's seven-year rule.

© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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