Pakistan Probes Deadly Suicide Attack

Investigators tried Sunday to identify a suicide bomber who attacked a political rally, as the toll from the blast rose to 27 dead and 47 injured, including Pakistan's top security official.

Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao was left spattered in blood but only slightly injured in the attack Saturday in Charsadda, a town in North West Frontier Province.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing, which took place just after Sherpao completed a speech to a rally of his political supporters. But suspicion inevitably fell on Islamic militants who have repeatedly targeted top Pakistani officials, including President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, for supporting the U.S.-led war on terror.

Mudassir Khan, a police officer in Charsadda, said police and intelligence experts were combing the scene of the bombing for evidence.

"No one has claimed responsibility, and we have no clue on the identity of the bomber. But we believe from his facial features that he was an Afghan" a senior Pakistani official told CBS News on the condition that his identity will not be revealed. The official said investigators were looking for clues to al Qaeda's involvement. The terror group has had a history of backing attacks against Pakistani leaders including Musharraf.

A senior police investigator in Peshawar, the provincial capital, said that the bomber's severed head and legs indicated he was in his 30s.

"The pattern of recent attacks" also suggested a link to the tribal region along the border, where al Qaeda and Taliban militants are believed to operate, he added.

The official, who asked for anonymity because he was not authorized to make media comments, declined to elaborate.

Pakistan has suffered a spate of suicide attacks this year, including attacks on the military and police, and on a five-star hotel in the capital, Islamabad.

Officials have blamed militants, but have announced no clear results of their investigations.

Witnesses said Saturday's attacker got within 15 yards of Sherpao — detonating the bomb among a crowd that had gathered around the minister as he headed for his car to leave.

Sherpao expressed sorrow over the loss of life, but said such attacks "cannot deter my resolve in the fight against terrorism," he told reporters some hours later.

Officials initially said that 22 people were killed and 35 wounded.

By Sunday, the toll had risen to 27 dead and 47 injured, said Mudassir Khan, a police officer in Charsadda. Nine of those killed have not been identified so far because the bodies are badly mutilated, he said.

The police investigator also said there were 27 fatalities.

Most of victims were local people, but the dead included several of Sherpao's police bodyguards, he said.

Top officials have been targeted repeatedly since Pakistan became a Washington ally against al Qaeda in late 2001.

In December 2003, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf narrowly escaped injury in two massive bombings 11 days apart in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. Some 17 other people were killed in the second bombing.