NEW DELHI, May 11 (RIA Novosti) – At least 10 people were killed in a bomb attack on Saturday morning in Pakistan’s commercial capital Karachi as the country went to the polls in national and regional elections, the Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported.
At least 30 people were injured in the attack at a polling station, which according to the police, targeted an Awami National Party candidate, who was not injured. Police officer Shabir Hussain said that the Awami National Party is one of three secular liberal parties that have been targeted by Taliban militants during the run-up to the election, The Associated Press reported.
Polling stations for the elections for the National Assembly – Pakistan’s lower house of parliament – and for regional legislative assemblies are being guarded by tens of thousands of troops, as the Pakistani Taliban had threatened to carry out suicide attacks, and more than 100 people have been killed in election-related violence since mid-April.
The elections are seen as a landmark event in Pakistan, which was ruled by the military for most of its modern history, in that they mark the first transition from one civilian government to another.
