Three Bhutto supporters shot dead

Gunmen kill three supporters of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto at a party office in southwestern Pakistan on Saturday.

Gunmen killed three supporters of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto at a party office in southwestern Pakistan on Saturday, police and party officials said, in the run-up to a January 8 general election.

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The attackers opened fire on an office of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party in a remote village in Baluchistan province before dawn. Two party supporters were shot dead in a separate incident in the southern financial hub of Karachi last month.

"Our three workers have been killed and one wounded," Sadiq Umrani, provincial president of the party, told Reuters.

Police suspected the attack could be the result of tribal rivalries. Violence is common in the run-up to and during elections in Pakistan, mainly in rural areas where tribal feuds are common. Bhutto is in Dubai on a private visit to see her family.