31 killed in an attack on a polling station in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD.- A suicide bomber blew himself up in front of an overcrowded voting center in the city of Quetta, in the south-west of Pakistan and killed 31 people on Wednesday. in general elections from which will emerge the third consecutive civilian government in the majority Muslim nation.

The attack in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, also left 35 wounded, said doctor Jaffer Kakar, who feared that the number of dead is on the rise because many wounded are in a critical state.

A witness who was waiting to vote, Abdul Haleem, said he saw a motorcycle heading towards a crowd of voters a few seconds before the blast. His uncle was among the dead in the attack.

"There was a deafening explosion followed by a thick cloud of smoke and dust and many screams of wounded," he said.

Balochistan was the most affected by the violence recorded during the election campaign. A suicide bomber blew himself up at a rally and killed 149 people, including candidate Siraj Raisani, and 400 others were injured and the authorities suspended the vote in that constituency.

Citing security concerns, the electoral commission announced the suspension of Internet and mobile phone services in several districts of Baluchistan. Election commission secretary Babar Yaqub told reporters Tuesday night that threats had been made against polling stations, staff and even candidates.

A few hours earlier, insurgents threw grenades and fired on a military convoy escorting personnel and election materials in Turbat district, also in Baluchistan, killing four soldiers. At the request of the electoral commission, the army deployed 350,000 troops inside and outside polling stations across the country.

Also on Wednesday, a shootout between supporters of two rival political parties resulted in one death and two injuries in a town near the northwestern city of Swabi, police reports said.

In some Islamabad polling centers and in the capital of the Punjab region, an intense activity was recorded at the beginning of the day and several political leaders waited their turn to present their ballot papers. The local TV station reported scattered incidents in which police arrested people who had already marked ballots.

Human rights groups warned that tough election campaign and numerous accusations of fraud jeopardized the weak transition to a democratic government and bode well for post-election fraud charges .

The main candidates for Wednesday's elections are former cricketer Imran Khan and his center-right party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, and the Muslim League of Pakistan, also right and where the Former Prime Minister Nawaz was active. Sharif, who is serving a 10-year prison sentence for corruption. His younger brother, Shahbaz Sharif, resumed training.

A total of 105 thousand 96 million Pakistanis are being called to ballot to elect 270 members of the lower house, the National Assembly, and 577 lawmakers in four national assemblies.

This will be the third consecutive civilian government in the nation, which has been directly or indirectly ruled by the military for most of its 71-year history.