Agence France-Presse . Karachi

At least three people, two of them supporters of slain former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhuttos party, were killed in violence related to the upcoming polls, a senior police official said Friday.

Eight others were wounded in the two incidents in southern Sindh province involving supporters of Benazirs Pakistan Peoples Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Q party, Shaukat Shah, a senior police official, told the news agency.

In one clash in the provinces Dadu town, the PPP and PML supporters exchanged strong words and then gunfire, leaving a 14-year-old boy passing by and a PPP supporter dead, Shah said. Five others were injured in that incident.

The country heads to the polls on February 18 for the general elections in which the former ruling PML backs president Pervez Musharraf. The vote was postponed by six weeks because of deadly riots sparked by Benazirs assassination in a December 27 gun and suicide bomb attack in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.

British detectives said Friday that Benazir was killed by the force of the suicide bomb and not gunfire, backing the Pakistani governments controversial account of how the opposition leader died. The findings have caused fresh controversy ahead of the polls.

In the second incident of election-related violence, in Nawabshah the hometown of Benazirs widower, Asif Zardari  PML and PPP supporters exchanged gunfire, leaving one PPP backer dead and three injured. The police and paramilitary forces were guarding the areas, Shah said.

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