Bhutto assassination plunges Pakistan into turmoil

The assassination of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto on Thursday 27 December 2007 has triggered a wave of violence in the nuclear-armed country.

PAKISTAN opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated by a suicide bomber on Thursday, plunging the nuclear-armed country into one of the worst crises in its 60-year history.
Her killing after an election rally in the city of Rawalpindi triggered a wave of violence, especially in her native Sindh province, and could lead to the postponement of Jan 8 polls meant to return Pakistan to civilian-led democracy.

Ms Bhutto, 54, had hoped the huge popular following she enjoyed among the Pakistani poor would propel her to power for the third time as prime minister in an election meant to stabilise a country racked by Islamist violence.

But as she left the rally - where she spoke of threats to her life - she stood up to wave to supporters from the sun-roof of her bullet-proof vehicle. The attacker fired shots at her before blowing himself up, police and witnesses said.

She was pronounced dead in hospital in Rawalpindi, the home of the Pakistan army and the same city where her father, former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was hanged in 1979 after being deposed by a military coup.

'It is the act of those who want Pakistan to disintegrate,' said Ms Farzana Raja, a senior official from Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party. 'They have finished the Bhutto family.'

Dec 28, 2007