Seven dead in Pakistan election violence

Police investigate the scene in the aftermath of the explosion in the theater

KARACHI, Pakistan (CNN) -- At least seven people have died and many others were wounded in what officials said was violence related to elections to be held here Monday.

As many as 45,000 soldiers are patrolling the country's commercial capital ahead of the poll in which political parties are barred from contesting.

The voting is the fourth phase of local elections organized by the military government of Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf calls it part of a plan to help the country return to democracy

The most serious incident was a bomb that exploded in a crowded movie theater in Karachi Sunday, killing at least two people and wounding five others, police and witnesses said.

One of the wounded was in serious condition.

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The explosion occurred at 6:45 pm during the screening of a movie at the Prince theater in central Karachi, police officials said. The bomb had been placed in a back row.

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The 1,000-seat theater -- Karachi's largest -- was packed at the time, security officials said.

The blast occurred just prior to a scheduled 15-minute intermission in the 3-hour Punjabi-language movie.

One official said it was a miracle more people were not wounded.

Traffic snarled for hours

Witnesses said that after the blast the theater filled with smoke, the lights went out, but that the audience exited in an orderly fashion.

The blast damaged the building but did not result in a fire.

Bomb disposal experts cordoned off the neighborhood and rerouted traffic.

But the explosion still snarled traffic for hours in front of the movie house -- which is located on M.A. Ginnah Road, a central downtown artery.

Call for election boycott

Two others died in separate incidents in the city on Sunday that officials said were linked to political unrest.

A teenage girl was wounded in a firecracker blast and later died, and a young man was killed by stray bullet as he sat outside his house.

Three people died on Saturday in election-related violence.

Officials here had been bracing for violence expected to coincide with local elections Monday in which at least 10,000 candidates are vying for 3,738 positions.

Political groups contend the elections will not be fair and religious groups have called for a boycott of the poll.