Pakistan heads to the polls in the wake of bombings

A member of the polling staff places information posters for voters outside a polling station in a school building in Karachi (Fareed Khan/AP)

Voters in Pakistan braved cold winter weather and the threat of violence to start voting for a new parliament as twin bombings a day before claimed at least 30 lives.

Tens of thousands of police and paramilitary forces have been deployed at polling stations to ensure security after the pair of bombings at election offices in the southwestern Baluchistan province on Wednesday.