Bomb kills 37 on last day of Pakistan vote campaign

By Zeeshan Haider

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A suicide car bomb outside a Pakistani election candidate's office killed 37 people in the violent northwest on Saturday, the last day of campaigning for an election meant to complete a transition to civilian rule.

Separately, police in the south of the country said they 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 U.S. 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 took place in the town of Parachinar in the Kurram region on the Afghan border which has seen bloody sectarian clashes between majority Sunni Muslim militants and minority Shi'ites in recent months.

Supporters of a candidate backed by Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) were going into his office after a rally.

"The car was full of explosives and it was rammed into the crowd as they were entering my office," the candidate, Riaz Hussain Shah, told Reuters. He said he was not there at the time.

The Interior Ministry said 37 people were killed and more than 90 wounded in the blast.

In another suspected suicide attack in the northwest, two civilians were killed and four soldiers wounded in the Swat valley, a military official said.

The northwest has been hit by a surge of violence since July, but attacks have taken place in major cities across Pakistan and there are fears of more.

Police in the southern city of Hyderabad said they 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.

FEAR

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.

The United States wanted to see an election in which all the parties can compete fairly, a U.S. spokesman said.