Thursday, December 27, 2007

Benazir Bhutto assassinated

Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday in a suicide bombing that also killed at least 20 others at a campaign rally, a party aide and a military official said.

Benazir Bhutto assassinated

(Video) Pakistan's opposition leader shot in the head after election rally, dies in hospital. Another 20 people killed in blast. 'She has been martyred,' says opposition

News Agencies
Latest Update: 12.27.07, 15:49 / Israel News

VIDEO - Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday in a suicide bombing that also killed at least 20 others at a campaign rally, a party aide and a military official said.



Bhutto was critically injured in a gun and suicide bomb attack after an election rally in the city of Rawalpindi.



Bhutto, 54, died in hospital in Rawalpindi. Ary-One Television said she had been shot in the head. "At 6:16pm she expired," said Wasif Ali Khan, a member of Bhutto's party who was at Rawalpindi General Hospital. A senior military official confirmed that Bhutto had died.



Police said a suicide bomber fired shots at Bhutto as she was leaving the rally venue in a park before blowing himself up. "The man first fired at Bhutto's vehicle. She ducked and then he blew himself up," said police officer Mohammad Shahid.

As party leaders, including Bhutto, started coming out a man tried to go close to them and then he fired some shots and blew himself up," said Yaseen, a police officer, at the scene.



Police said about 20 people had been killed in the blast.



When news of Bhutto's death broke, her supporters at the hospital began chanting "Dog,Musharraf, dog," referring to Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf. Some of them smashed the glass door at the main entrance of the emergency unit, others burst into tears.



Bhutto served twice as Pakistan's prime minister between 1988 and 1996. She had returned to Pakistan from an eight-year exile on Oct. 18.



A suicide bomber killed nearly 150 people in an attack on Bhutto on Oct. 18 as she paraded through the southern city of Karachi after returning home from eight years in self-imposed exile.



"It is the act of those who want to disintegrate Pakistan because she was symbol of unity. They have finished the Bhutto family. They are enemies of Pakistan," Senior Bhutto party official Farzana said.



"She has been martyred," said party official Rehman Malik.



Reuters, AP contributed to this report

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