Bombings mar election build-up
Pakistan is scheduled to hold parliamentary elections on May 11, the first transition between democratically elected governments in a country that has experienced three military coups and constant political instability since its creation in 1947. Yet the build-up to the election was again marred by violence yesterday when five people were killed and more than 30 others injured when a bomb targeting a candidate from an Islamist party exploded in north-west Pakistan. The attack in Hangu town was the second in as many days targeting members of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party. A bomb killed 25 people in the Kurram tribal region on Monday.