Islamabad, August 25:

Clashes between rival political gangs in Pakistan left 10 people dead and dozens injured today as voters cast their ballots in the second round of local elections. Tens of thousands of troops and police were deployed in “sensitive” areas across Pakistan after the first phase of the polls a week ago were marred by violence and claims of rigging. “We will ensure law and order during polling,” Information Minister Sheikh Rashid said earlier.

“So far we have reports of 10 people killed in election-related violence,” a senior security official in Islamabad said. Eight died in Punjab, the most populous of Pakistan’s four provinces, two in the central city of Jhang, three in the town of Jaranwala and one each in the provincial capital Lahore and in the towns of Muridke and Jhelum. Another two people died in Kohistan, a remote mountainous district in North West Frontier Province, he added.