Pakistan ? The death toll from a suicide bombing that targeted Pakistan’s top security official rose to 28 Sunday, the country’s information minister said.

Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao was left spattered in blood but only slightly injured in the attack Saturday in Charsadda, a town near his home village 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.

“It is a challenge to stop terrorism, and we are fighting it with full commitment,” Information Minister Mohammed Ali Durrani said.

Hamid Karzai, the president of neighboring Afghanistan, sent a message of condolences and said long-suffering Afghans knew the hurt that Pakistanis were feeling.

Such attacks show the need for “strong cooperation between both countries to fight against terrorists and all those elements who try to bring instability to the region,” Karzai’s office said.