PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Feb  9, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Two Pakistanis were killed

Friday in a confrontation between police and followers of ex-prime minister
Imran Khan, police and his party said, the first confirmed fatalities over a
fractious election count.

       A delayed count is underway after Pakistan's election on Thursday, with
candidates backed by Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) faring better than
expected despite a crackdown targeting the party.

       Sporadic PTI protests have broken out amid claims the delay is allowing
authorities to rig the vote-counting against them.

       Police official Sahibzada Sajjad Ahmed, from the Shangla district of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa province, said PTI protesters "started pelting stones at the police
and set fire to a police vehicle".

       "Due to the intense stone pelting by PTI workers, two protesters were hit
by stones and lost their lives," he told AFP.

       PTI candidate Syed Fareen told AFP the demonstration was over the party
being "usurped" and "the police resorted to firing on peaceful protesters,
resulting in the loss of lives of two of our workers".