Blast Kills 15 at Anti-Musharraf Rally

The blast took place in a market that serves a leafy, upscale neighborhood. It hurled bodies into the streets and obliterated a nearby car. An hour later, anti-terrorism investigators were still using flashlights to hunt for small scraps of skin, and for clues.

Chaudhry arrived at the demonstration about 45 minutes after the blast and joined fellow lawyers under a cavernous tent. Looking subdued, he prayed with the crowd and then left.

Chaudhry has been touring the country in recent months, speaking to tens of thousands who have converged in almost carnival-like demonstrations to sing and chant their disapproval of Musharraf. The rallies have been largely peaceful, with the exception of a protest in May where demonstrators were fired on by rival groups and more than 40 people were killed.

Chaudhry was suspended in March for alleged abuses of office. But the opposition contends that Musharraf's real motive was to prevent the judge from blocking the general's ambition to continue both as president and head of the army.

Elsewhere in Pakistan on Tuesday, a suicide bomber killed three soldiers and a bystander in North Waziristan, where militants on Sunday renounced a controversial peace accord with the government. The military has been deploying troops to the tribal regions bordering Afghanistan in recent days as Taliban fighters step up attacks.

Richard A. Boucher, assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, applauded Musharraf's moves against the radical fighters over the past week, saying he was "crossing a line and there's no going back. I think it shows that the government of Pakistan is prepared to move, to act, against a dangerous militancy that has come to infect various areas and parts of Pakistani society."

Special correspondents Shahzad Khurram in Islamabad and Imtiaz Ali in Peshawar, Pakistan, contributed to this report.