PPP wants troops deployed during polls

Islamabad: The party of slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto called on Thursday for army troops to be deployed at polling stations during upcoming elections because of the "grave" security situation in the country.

The call came as a bomb exploded near a military truck on a major highway, and a day after security forces found the bodies of 13 troops killed in recent fighting with suspected militants in a nearby area.

"The Election Commission must use all methods, including calling the army to ensure peace and to avoid trouble," said Pakistan Peoples Party Senator Latif Khosa ahead of the February 18 parliamentary vote.

"The law and order situation in the whole of Pakistan is very grave, precarious and ominous," Khosa said, citing rising militancy and killings, as well as the December 27 assassination of former Prime Minister Bhutto in a suicide attack blamed by the government on a top Taliban leader.