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ISLAMABAD-A roadside bomb blast hit an election campaign convoy killing two people and wounding three on Wednesday in Pakistan's northwestern Swat valley, police said, as security fears deepen ahead of a February 18 general election.Mufti Hussain Ahmed, an independent candidate contesting a provincial assembly seat, was among the wounded in the blast in the restive valley where hundreds of pro-Taliban militants have been killed in clashes with troops in recent months."Ahmed was going in a convoy of 8-10 vehicles on a campaign when the blast occurred, killing two people," said Swat's senior police official Waqif Khan.Violence has intensified in Pakistan in the run-up to an election that was due to be held on January 8, but was delayed until Monday after the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto in a gun and bomb suicide attack on December 27.Nine people, including four journalists, were wounded on Tuesday in southwestern Baluchistan in an explosion outside an election office of another independent candidate.Two suicide bomb attacks on election rallies in different parts of northwest Pakistan have killed at least 22 people and wounded more than 30 in the last week alone.A low turnout is widely expected because of the violence.The Interior Ministry has asked politicians to avoid unnecessary exposure in the run-up to the vote, keep travel plans unpredictable and avoid big rallies.An Interior Ministry spokesman said on Tuesday that soldiers were being deployed to support police and paramilitary forces where needed. Musharraf has said troops have orders to shoot anyone trying to disrupt polls.To read more go to:
As in the days of Noah....
