AFP

Karachi, May 13: Fierce gunbattles between rival Pakistani political activists killed 27 people on Saturday in the worst violence since President Pervez Musharraf suspended the country's top judge two months ago.

Most of the victims were opposition supporters headed for a rally in the southern city of Karachi by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who was trapped at the airport throughout the day by roadblocks set up by Musharraf supporters.

Black smoke billowed over the volatile commercial hub as mobs armed with assault rifles and shotguns fought pitched battles in the streets, opened fire on a private television studio and torched dozens of buses and cars.

Military ruler Musharraf, who was due to address his own rally in Islamabad in the evening, ruled out declaring a state of emergency but deployed extra paramilitary troops in armoured cars in the volatile southern city.

Musharraf, a key US ally, dismissed Chaudhry on March 9 over allegations that he had abused his power, turning the judge into a symbol of defiance and unleashing the most serious crisis of the president's eight-year rule.

Opponents say army chief Musharraf acted unconstitutionally in a bid to neuter the judiciary and make it easier to be re-elected as president by the current parliament before his five-year term runs out in November.

"There are 27 people dead in the violence and more than 90 are injured. The numbers could go up," a senior Pakistani security official said on condition of anonymity.

"The majority of those killed are workers of opposition parties, mainly the Pakistan People's Party" of exiled former premier Benazir Bhutto, he said. Other officials said a policeman and a paramedic were among the victims.