A Pakistan hospital official says an explosion outside crowded polling station in southwestern city of Quetta has killed 25 people and wounded 40. Jaffer Kakar, a doctor, says five policemen and two children are among the dead. He fears the death toll could rise as many of the wounded are in critical condition.

Wednesday's attack comes as Pakistanis vote in general elections for 270 members of the law-making National Assembly, or lower house of parliament, and 577 seats in four provincial assemblies.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the explosion.

Abdur Razzaq Cheema, the police chief in Quetta, Baluchistan's provincial capital, says the explosion took place when near the city's eastern bypass.

Baluchistan also saw the deadliest suicide bombing in the run-up to election day, with 149 people, including a provincial assembly candidate, killed at a campaign this month.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> The Latest: Khan votes, hoping to become Pakistan's next PM

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Latest on Pakistan's elections (all times local):

Pakistan's opposition leader Imran Khan, who aspires to be the country's next prime minister, has cast his ballot near his suburban home in the capital, Islamabad.

Khan voted as elections got underway in Pakistan where the nation is electing a new National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, and four provincial assemblies on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, an explosion outside a crowded polling station in the southwestern city of Quetta killed 25 people and wounded 40.

Another prominent candidate in the elections — late Prime minister Benazir Bhutto's son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari — also cast his vote, in his native town of Larkana.

Khan, who heads Tehrik-e-Insaf, or Justice Party, is likely to do well in the elections. He arrived at the polling station to warm greetings from supporters who showered his vehicle with rose petals.

After voting, Khan appealed on Pakistanis to come out in large numbers and vote sensibly "to save future generations."

The young Zaradri, who is now heading her slain mother's Pakistan People's Party, condemned the bombing in Quetta.

A Pakistan hospital official says an explosion outside crowded polling station in southwestern city of Quetta has killed 25 people and wounded 40. Jaffer Kakar, a doctor, says five policemen and two children are among the dead. He fears the death toll could rise as many of the wounded are in critical condition.

Wednesday's attack comes as Pakistanis vote in general elections for 270 members of the law-making National Assembly, or lower house of parliament, and 577 seats in four provincial assemblies.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the explosion.

Abdur Razzaq Cheema, the police chief in Quetta, Baluchistan's provincial capital, says the explosion took place when near the city's eastern bypass.

Baluchistan also saw the deadliest suicide bombing in the run-up to election day, with 149 people, including a provincial assembly candidate, killed at a campaign this month.

Pakistani police say a shooting between supporters of two opposing political parties has left one person dead and wounded two people in a village near the northwestern city of Sawabi.

It is the first violence on election day in Pakistan. Ahead of Wednesday's balloting, over 170 people — including three candidates running in the elections — were killed in suicide bombings in southwestern Baluchistan and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces.

Police officer Khalid Hamdani says it's unclear what triggered the shootout between a group of supporters of the secular Awami National Party, which has often bbeen targeted by the Taliban, and the Tehrik-e-Insaf led by former cricket star Imran Khan, a center-right party.

Hamdani says the situation is now under control and voting is underway in Col Sher Khan village.

A hard-line Pakistani cleric who heads an alliance of religious parties and the country's parliament speaker have cast their ballots in the general elections underway in Pakistan.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman voted in the northwestern city of Dera Ismail Khan soon after polls opened on Wednesday.

His Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal is a potential threat to opposition leader, former cricket star Imran Khan's party in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Khan's party has ruled the province for the last five years.

Rehman appealed to citizens after casting his ballot to cast their votes with the full sense of responsibility so capable hands could take over the country.

Ayaz Sadiq, speaker of the National Assembly, voted in the eastern city of Lahore.

Pakistan Muslim League chief Shahbaz Sharif cast his vote in the eastern city of Lahore soon after polls opened in national elections.

Sharif, the younger brother of disgraced ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif, took over the ruling Pakistan Muslim League last year after his brother was found guilty of corruption. The ex-prime minister has since been sentenced to 10 years in jail, which he is serving while appealing the conviction.

The younger Sharif stood in line waiting his turn to enter the polling booth. In Pakistan, a candidate can run for elections in multiple seats. If the candidate wins more than one seat, a by-election will be held as a person can represent only one constituency.

Sharif marked his ballot for both the National and Punjab provincial Parliaments and is contesting elections in four National Assembly seats and in two Punjab provincial legislature seats.

Pakistanis began voting in a historic third straight election ending a campaign marred by widespread allegations of manipulation that local and international rights group say imperils the country's wobbly transition to democratic rule.

There are 85,307 polling stations across Pakistan and more than 11,000 candidates are vying for 270 seats in parliament and 570 seats in four provincial assemblies. Voting for two parliament seats and six seats in provincial assemblies has been postponed for a later date, due to attacks on candidates or disqualifications. One candidate in the Sindh provincial assembly was unopposed and has already secured that seat.

Under Pakistani law, separate seats are reserved for women and for non-Muslim minorities, who comprise 4 percent of the population. </s> At least 31 people have been killed after a suicide bomber attacked a polling station in Pakistan’s city of Quetta. The blast occurred on the day of the country's general election, whose candidates include former cricketer Imran Khan and the party of jailed ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

A SUICIDE bomber on a motorcycle rammed into people waiting outside a busy polling station in the Pakistani city of Quetta, killing at least 31 and casting a dark shadow on what was to be a historic day for the country as Pakistanis cast ballots to elect their third consecutive civilian government.

The attack in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, underscored the difficulties this majority Muslim nation faces on its wobbly journey toward sustained democracy.

The bombing also wounded 35 people, with several reported to be in critical condition, raising concerns the death toll could rise further, said hospital official Jaffar Kakar, a doctor.

As polls closed, Pakistan’s Election Commission spokesman Nadeem Qasim said that the commission had issued a notice to aspiring prime minister Imran Khan saying his vote could be disqualified after he cast his ballot in front of television cameras, violating “the secrecy of the ballot paper.”

Mr Qasim said Khan violated Pakistan’s constitution, which guarantees the secrecy of the ballot. Images showed a smiling Khan with his ballot paper laid out in front of him as he marked the ballot.

Voting for a National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, and four provincial assemblies followed a rancorous campaign marked by widespread allegations of manipulation.

Analysts and rights groups have warned of post-election instability and predicted losing parties would cry foul.

The uncertainty of the outcome of the vote — no single party appeared assured of a simple majority win — could also lead to prolonged post-election jockeying that would hamper the forming of the next government.

“Whatever way elections run, I see a lot of instability,” said defence analyst Ayesha Siddiqua, who authored Military In., a look at the extensive financial holdings of Pakistan’s army.

A witness to the attack in Quetta, Abdul Haleem, who was waiting to cast his ballot, said he saw a motorcycle drive into the crowd of voters just seconds before the explosion.

Mr Haleem’s uncle was killed in the blast.

“There was a deafening bang followed by thick cloud of smoke and dust and so much crying from the wounded people,” he said.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the explosion, according to the group’s AMAQ news agency.

The group said the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber, but did not provide further detail or evidence for its claim.

Baluchistan also saw the worst violence during election campaigning earlier this month, when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a political rally, killing 149 people, including the candidate Siraj Raisani. Another 400 were wounded. Voting in that constituency has been suspended.

IS claimed responsibility for that attack, though Baluchistan has seen relentless attacks, both by the province’s secessionists and Sunni militants who have killed hundreds of Shiites living there.

Militants lobbed grenades and opened fire at a military convoy escorting election staffers and voting material in Baluchistan’s district of Turbat, killing four troops. Pakistan’s military deployed 350,000 troops countrywide at polling stations.

Also Wednesday, shooting between supporters of two opposing political parties killed one person and wounded two in a village near the northwestern city of Swabi.

Later, more clashes between rival political parties killed another person and wounded 15 elsewhere in the country.

Early voting was heavy at some polling stations in Islamabad, the capital, and also in the Punjab provincial capital, with several political party leaders standing in line to cast their ballots.

Local television reported scattered incidences of police arresting people with pre-marked ballots. Another concern is the unprecedented participation in these elections of radical religious groups, including those banned for terror links but resurrected and renamed, has also raised concerns — especially for minorities and women — ahead of the voting.

Jibran Nasir, an independent candidate from Pakistan’s financial hub of Karachi, said he received death threats and even had a fatwa, or religious edict, issued against him after he refused to condemn Ahmadis, reviled by mainstream Muslims as heretics because they believe the messiah promised in Islam arrived over a century ago. Pakistan in 1974 declared Ahmadis non-Muslims.

The leading contenders in Wednesday’s polling are former cricket star Imran Khan and his right-of-centre Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Party, and the right-of-centre Pakistan Muslim League, the party of disgraced Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who is in jail serving 10 years on corruption charges. His younger brother Shahbaz Sharif took control of the party.

Khan’s supporters showered his vehicle with rose petals as he arrived to vote at a polling station near his home suburb in. Islamabad.

After voting, he appealed on Pakistanis to come out and vote in huge numbers “to save future generations.”

The third-largest party in the running is the left-leaning Pakistan People’s Party, headed by Bilawal Bhutto, the son of late Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, assassinated by the Pakistani Taliban, whom she had vowed to eradicate.

Election officials say more than 11,000 candidates are vying for 270 seats in Pakistan’s lawmaking Lower House of Parliament and 577 seats in four provincial assemblies.

There are more than 105 million eligible voters in Pakistan, 59 million men and 46 million women.

Pakistan’s election commission reminded candidates their elections will be nullified if the female voter turnout didn’t reach 10 per cent. The requirement was imposed after the 2013 elections, when several areas banned voting by women, mostly in Pakistan’s religiously conservative northwest. Some candidates were elected without a single woman marking a ballot.

International and domestic election observers will monitor the voting.

The European Union Election Observation Mission has 120 monitors at polling stations in major centres across Pakistan, with the exception of Baluchistan.

Under Pakistani law, separate seats are reserved for women and for non-Muslim minorities, which comprise 4 per cent of the population. </s> world

Updated: Jul 26, 2018 01:09 IST

At least 29 people were killed and several others injured in blasts and clashes on Wednesday across Pakistan as millions turned up to vote for the general and assembly elections, officials said.

Several reports media said more than 28 people were killed in the NA-260 constituency of Quetta, the capital of the troubled Balochistan province, in an attack targeting a police van. Television images showed a charred police vehicle, cordoned off by security officials. (Live updates)

“(The bomber) was trying to enter the polling station. When police tried to stop him he blew himself up,” a local administration official in Quetta, Hashim Ghilzai, told news agency AFP.

Supporters of two rival parties exchanged fire outside a polling station in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, killing a worker of former cricketer Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party and injuring two others, news agency PTI reported citing the police.

It added that the Khan’s party worker was killed as activists clashed with Awami National Party supporters at the polling station in Nawan Kali of Swabi district after voting opened for the general elections.

In Larkana, in the southern province of Sindh and the home of the Bhutto family, at least three people were injured after an explosion was reported outside a polling station in NA-200 constituency, near Shah Muhammad School.

Deputy inspector general (DIG) Akbar Riaz told Geo News the cracker blast targeted a Pakistan People’s party (PPP) camp and added polling continued despite the attack.

Clashes between workers of opposing parties were also reported from several areas.

The military has deployed more than 370,000 troops to ensure security on the polling day amid fears of further attacks after a series of bombings killed hundreds of people during campaign rallies.

Opinion polls in the run-up to the Pakistan assembly election have put Khan’s PTT a little ahead of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (N) and the Pakistan Peoples’ Party of Bilawal Bhutto in the third place.

Thousands of candidates belonging to extremist and militant sectarian groups are also contesting the general elections in Pakistan.

To gain a majority, a party needs 137 of the 272 elected National Assembly seats. A further 70 seats for women and minorities are awarded proportionally based on the voting percentages.

No Pakistani prime minister has ever completed their term.

First Published: Jul 25, 2018 12:17 IST </s> At least 13 people were killed and 30 wounded after a suicide bomber detonated explosives at an election campaign rally in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province on Tuesday, Tolo News quoted provincial public health director Najibullah Kamawal as saying.

The explosion took place in Kama district where a candidate, Nasir Mohmand, had gathered people to explain his plans. Sohrab Qaderi, a member of the provincial council, said that around 250 people were in attendance, reported Al Jazeera.

Sayed Humayoun, who was at the meeting, said that elders were speaking when there was a huge blast. “I was knocked unconscious but when I opened my eyes there were bodies scattered all around the blast area,” he said.

No organisation has claimed responsibility so far.

The explosion came as campaigning started for parliamentary elections due on October 20. Five candidates have been killed in attacks so far, said the Independent Election Commission. The Taliban and the Islamic State have declared to disrupt the election process across the country. </s> At least 32 people were killed and several injured mostly in a suicide bombing in Balochistan on Wednesday as millions of voters queued up across Pakistan to elect a new government.

The Balochistan bombing targeted the convoy of Deputy Inspector General of Police Abdul Razzaq Cheema near a polling station. It left 31 persons, including some policemen, dead. The senior police official escaped unhurt, Geo News reported.

The area was crowded as people were making their way to vote at Tameer-e-Nau Model School. Polling was halted at the polling station.

While polling stations officially opened for voting at 8 a.m., enthusiastic citizens queued up outside their respective stations as early as 7 a.m. Voting will officially end at 6 p.m. while as counting of the votes was being done simultaneously.

Results for the 11th general elections are expected to trickle in immediately after the polling ends with the final outcome likely by Thursday morning or afternoon, according to election officials.

A Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) worker was killed and two others injured as party activists clashed with Awami National Party (ANP) workers outside a polling station in Nawan Kali in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, according to Express News.

The workers of the two parties clashed in Mardan as well. Several people have been injured in the firing incident. Following the clash, police took control of the affected area.

Two people were also injured in a firing incident in Dera Murad Jamali in Balochistan.

In a separate incident, four people were injured in a blast outside a political camp in Larkana, in Sindh province, the home of the Bhutto family.

Independent candidate Jibran Nasir said that Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan supporters attacked a facilitation camp he had set up in Chandio Village in Karachi.

As many as 12,570 candidates are contesting for a total of 849 seats of national and provincial assemblies in the general election. Nearly 106 million people are eligible to vote.

The battle is set to come down to three parties: Shahbaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Imran Khan’s PTI.

In an effort to increase voter participation, the Election Commission has declared a public holiday on Wednesday.

Over four lakh security personnel have been deployed at polling stations across the country to maintain law and order and take action against harassment, after the nation witnessed one of the bloodiest campaigning, inlcuding the July 13 bombing that killed 150 people.

According to a poll official, 5,878 polling stations have been declared “highly sensitive” — official euphemism to mean they are prone to violence — in Sindh; 5,487 in Punjab and Islamabad; 3,874 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and FATA and 1,768 in Balochistan.

The elections are being held as emotions run over a graft case that led to the imprisonment of ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz.

Sharif’s PML-N has condemned the legal cases facing its members, and reported pressures to leave the party along with harassment to prevent it from returning to power after its absolute majority in 2013.

These elections are the second in Pakistan’s history in which a government was able to complete its term to make way for another government after being ruled by military dictators for half of the 71 years of its existence since its founding in 1947. </s> A suicide bomber blew himself up at an election rally in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Nangarhar on Tuesday, killing at least 13 people and wounding more than 30, Reuters reported, citing officials. Campaigning for the October 20 parliamentary election began on Friday. Security officials have warned of the danger of militant attacks during the campaigning. “Elders were speaking at the meeting when there was suddenly a huge blast,” said witnesses who were attending the meeting in Kama district, outside the provincial capital Jalalabad. </s> A suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd outside a voter registration centre in the Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday, killing four people and wounding 15 others.

“It happened at the entrance gate of the centre. It was a suicide attack. There are casualties,” Dawood Amin, city police chief, told AFP.

Health ministry spokesman Waheed Majroh said at least four people had been killed and 15 others wounded. The attack — the latest assault targeting a voter registration centre — happened in a heavily Shia-populated neighbourhood in the west of the city.

Afghanistan on April 14 began registering voters for long-delayed legislative elections scheduled for October.

Election officials have acknowledged that security is a major concern as the Taliban and other militant groups control or contest large swathes of the country. Afghan police and troops forces have been tasked with protecting polling centres, even as they struggle to get the upper hand against militants on the battlefield. </s> JALALABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A suicide bomber blew himself up at an election rally in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Nangarhar on Tuesday, killing at least seven people and wounding 25, officials said, warning that the toll was likely to climb.

Campaigning for the Oct. 20 parliamentary election began on Friday and security officials have warned that campaign meetings would be vulnerable to attack by militant groups.

Attaullah Khogyani, the spokesman of the provincial governor, said at least seven bodies had been taken to hospital, but other officials said the total was likely to be much higher.

Around 250 people were attending the rally in Kama district outside the provincial capital of Jalalabad, said Sohrab Qaderi, a member of the provincial council, adding that at least 20 were killed and dozens more wounded.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Militant group Islamic State has claimed a series of attacks this year that have killed scores of people in Nangarhar, on the border with Pakistan.
A blast outside a polling station in Quetta, Pakistan, kills 31 people and wounds several more on election day.