Karachi tense after election violence

Pakistan's largest city remains tense as polls opposed by powerful ethnic groups open for local Government elections after a night of violence in which five people have been killed.

Police and paramilitary troops roamed the streets of Karachi, one of several major cities where polling began for the fourth phase of district and municipal elections.

Armoured cars are on major streets and armed soldiers are keeping watch from rooftops.

Five people have been killed and at least 13 injured in a night of violence in Karachi, stronghold of two rival ethnic parties which have urged people to boycott the polls.

On Sunday, one person died and 14 were injured when a bomb exploded at the Prince cinema in central Karachi. One of the injured later died in hospital.

Two people died in a drive-by shooting and a young girl was killed when an explosive was tossed into her home, police said.

They said three public buses also were set ablaze late last night, but no one was hurt.

Over the past week, six other people - three of them candidates who were campaigning for the polls - have been killed in election-related violence in the city.

The Mohajir Qami Movement and its rival Muttahida Qami Movement, both representing Muslims and their descendants who have migrated from India, do not recognise elections under the military Government of President General Pervez Musharraf, who seized power two years ago in a bloodless military coup and recently declared himself president.

The MQM has called the elections a farce, but promised to avoid violence on polling day.