Pakistan votes in landmark

Coups, conflict and cricketers: Pakistan's vital election - in 90 seconds

Voting is under way across Pakistan in landmark national and provincial elections.

The vote marks Pakistan's first transition from one civilian government to another in its 66-year history.

But sporadic violence linked to the election has claimed a number of lives. In the worst attack, 11 people were killed in a bombing on a political office in Karachi.

In the run-up to the election, more than 100 people died. Tens of thousands of troops are deployed at polling stations after the Pakistani Taliban threatened to carry out suicide attacks. Hours before polls opened, Pakistan sealed its borders with Iran and Afghanistan in a bid to keep foreign militants at bay.

Officials said the borders would remain closed for the next three days. Queues started forming before polling stations opened at 08:00 (03:00 GMT) on Saturday.

Abdul Sattar, 74, said: "We want change, we are really fed up with old faces coming back to power every time and doing nothing for the nation."

By midday, 30% of registered voters had turned out, election officials estimated, describing the figure as "very encouraging". An election commission spokesman said they hoped for a figure of 60-80% by the end of the day.

The turnout in 2008 was 44%. While the streets of Islamabad were largely deserted, areas around polling stations were described as filled with crowds.

At a polling station on the outskirts of the capital, BBC World Affairs correspondent Mike Wooldridge said around 1,000 of the 4,000 registered voters had cast their ballots by midday, including a large proportion of women.

EU observers in the eastern city of Lahore told the BBC that voting there was going smoothly and without any interruptions.

But voting was delayed at some polling stations in Karachi because ballot boxes and papers had not arrived. Electoral officials said staff had been threatened and attempts had been made to attack vehicles carrying ballot material.

Right-wing religious party Jamaat-e-Islami complained that some of its voters had been harassed and announced it was boycotting the vote in Karachi and areas of Hyderabad, reports said.

Polling stations will close at 17:00, however with an hour of voting remaining, there were still large crowds of voters and correspondents said it was likely that the polls would stay open for some time.