Islamabad- At least four people, including two policemen, were killed on Thursday when a suicide bomber tried to target the head of the ruling party in Pakistan's militancy-hit North Western Frontier Province (NWFP), officials said.

The bomber blew himself up at the entrance of the house of Asfand Yar Wali, the head of the ruling Awami National Party
(ANP), in Wali Bagh village of Charsadda district. Wali was just about to leave his house when security officials stopped him, said the NWFP's Information Minister Iftikhar Hussain.

'Mr Wali is safe," he told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa, adding that "we were fearing such an attack as our party leader was receiving threats from Taliban militants."

Hussain said the sufficient security arrangements saved Wali.

The liberal and secular ANP defeated the Islamists parties in February 18 elections and is leading the fight against Islamic militancy in the province.

Rehman Malik, the security advisor to Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, said the country was in the state of war and everyone should help the government in quelling Taliban-led militancy.

"A suicide bomber who has decided to kill himself is difficult to stop," he said, adding while vowing that the government's offensive against the rebels in tribal areas would continue until they are eliminated.

An official in the Charsadda district hospital said 18 injured were moved there and three of them were in critical condition. (dpa)