Peshwar, Pakistan - A suspected suicide blast ripped through an opposition election rally in northwestern Pakistan on Saturday, killing at least 20 people and wounding 25, officials said.

The attack happened at a rally of the Awami National Party (ANP), an ethnic Pashtun nationalist party, in the town of Charsadda in troubled North West Frontier Province, they said.

The bombing has further raised fears for the security of general elections on February 18, which have already been delayed by the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto at a rally in December.