Pre-Election Day Violence Scars Pakistan

A suicide bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into an independent candidate's office in Pakistan's volatile northwest Saturday, killing 37 people and wounding more than 90 days before a crucial parliamentary election, government officials said.

Bodies were seen lying in pools of blood following the blast in Parachinar, a volatile tribal area bordering Afghanistan, one witness said.

A rocket, meanwhile, was fired at a military media center in another volatile area near the Afghan border, wounding three security personnel, said army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas.

Most of the victims in the suicide bomber attack were believed to be members of the opposition Pakistan People's Party, formerly headed by slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto. They had gathered at the home of candidate Syed Riaz Hussain following a campaign rally, said Mushtaq Hussain, an administrative official in the Kurram area.

Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said 37 people were killed and more than 90 wounded when a suicide bomber drove into a crowd as they were preparing to eat. Asked who could be behind the bombing, he would only say those "who want to derail the election process."

The injured poured into a nearby hospital, many in critical condition with severe burn wounds, said Raza Hussain, one of the doctors.

"Several of our party members are lying in a pool of blood," said Zafar Ali, a party supporter at the scene. "We are taking the injured and dumping them into pickup trucks and vans to bring them to the hospital."

Monday's elections are considered crucial to restoring democracy in the nation of 160 million following eight years of military rule under President Pervez Musharraf. They take place against a backdrop of rising Islamic militancy, and many candidates have been discouraged from holding large rallies. Security fears were running highest in lawless tribal areas along the Afghan border.

Earlier Saturday, suspected militants were blamed for the bombing of a polling station that badly damaged the building but caused no injuries.

The Dec. 27 assassination of Bhutto and a string of suicide bombings - some targeting campaign rallies - have been blamed on al Qaeda- or Taliban-linked militants.

Nevertheless, Musharraf said Saturday he was confident the elections would be free and fair and, hopefully, without violence.

"We will have a stable, democratically elected government and with the stable, democratically elected government we will ensure a successful fight against terrorism and extremism," he said in a speech to diplomats and senior government officials. It was broadcast on state-run Pakistan Television.

But in the southwestern city of Quetta on Saturday, hundreds of police surrounded and then clashed with more than 1,500 supporters of a coalition of anti-Musharraf parties boycotting the vote. Seven people were injured.

The demonstrators threw rocks at police, who responded with tear gas before arresting 50 activists for the violence, said police officer Raja Mohammed Ishtiaq. A truck and three motorcycles were burned in the melee, and the street was littered with party flags and shoes.

The government has deployed 81,000 soldiers to back up 392,000 police assigned to protect voters, said military spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas.

Recent opinion surveys show the opposition poised for a landslide victory amid disenchantment with Musharraf's rule since he seized power in a 1999 coup. Although the retired army general is not up for re-election, he could face impeachment if the opposition wins a two-thirds majority in the legislature.

Opposition politicians fear the results will be manipulated, something Musharraf insisted would not happen.

A survey released Saturday by Gallup Pakistan showed that 51 percent of the 1,300 respondents believed the election would be rigged - a 15 percentage point increase in the level of trust since a poll in November.

The survey, conducted by interviews Feb. 9-19 and with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent to 5 percentage points, also showed 35 percent of the respondents supporting the Pakistan People's Party, 25 percent for the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-N and 15 percent for the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q.

Smaller parties and the undecided accounted for the rest.

On Friday, Sen. Joseph Biden, who is a Democrat from the U.S. state of Delaware and heads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the United States should consider cutting off military aid to Pakistan if the elections are rigged.

Saturday's bombings came a day after police announced they had seized bomb-making materials and arrested 10 suspected Taliban-linked militants in the southern city of Karachi, where some 150 people died in an October suicide attack that narrowly missed Bhutto. She died 10 weeks later in a second attack.

The militants allegedly had a long list of targets, including politicians, law enforcers, businessmen and army officials. They had set up a laboratory in an industrial area in Karachi to prepare poisons and explosives and for training recruits, said provincial police chief Azhar Farooqi.

The suspects had been arrested last month but the arrests were only announced Friday after investigations, he said.

On Saturday, police arrested a man found with a suicide vest in Hyderabad, about 100 miles north of Karachi, said regional police chief Shaukat Shah.

In the north, 70 alleged followers of pro-Taliban cleric Maulvi Fazlullah surrendered to police in the Swat Valley, said district police chief Akhtar Ali Shah. Fazlullah's fighters have been battling security forces in the picturesque valley since July.