Islamabad, February 16
A suicide car bomb outside a Pakistani election candidate’s office killed 38 persons in the violent northwest on Saturday, the last day of campaigning for an election meant to complete a transition to civilian rule.

Separately, the police in the south of the country said it had foiled another attack planned for polling day on Monday.

Campaigning for the elections to a new parliament and provincial assemblies has been overshadowed by security fears, especially since former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was killed in a gun and suicide bomb attack on December 27. Opposition politicians have also complained of vote rigging.

The poll could spell trouble for President Pervez Musharraf, a key US ally who stepped down as army chief in November, if voters elect a parliament hostile to him.

Voting was postponed from January 8 after Bhutto’s assassination, which raised fears about the nuclear-armed country’s stability.

Saturday’s bomb attack in the town of Parachinar, in the Kurram region on the Afghan border, occurred as supporters of a candidate backed by Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party were going into his office after a rally, witnesses said.

“We have rechecked and found that 38 persons were killed and over 90 wounded,” said interior ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema. He said it was a suicide car bomb.

The northwest has been hit by a surge of violence since July and while some attacks have taken place in all major cities there are fears of more.

The police in the southern city of Hyderabad said it had arrested three suspected suicide bombers believed to be planning attacks on polling stations and seized 10 kg (22 lb) of explosives and a suicide bomb jacket.

The violence in what has been one of the country’s bloodiest election campaigns has unnerved politicians and voters, and turnout on Monday could be low despite the deployment of more than 80,000 troops. Campaigning ends at midnight. — Reuters