Bhutto shot dead in a suicide attack in Rawalpindi

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan's charismatic leader Benazir Bhutto was shot dead on Thursday when gunmen opened fire at her vehicle just before a suicide bomber blew himself up at a election rally addressed by her in Rawalpindi, killing more than 20 people and injuring several others.
   
Reports said that five bullets were fired, one of which pierced her neck. The 54-year-old leader of Pakistan People's Party was rushed to Rawalpindi general hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
   
Rahman Malik, the PPP chairperson's security advisor, said some persons fired at Bhutto's vehicle before the suicide attacker blew himself up.
   
"At 6:16 pm, she expired," said Wasif Ali Khan, a PPP member, who was at the hospital, said.
   
She is survived by her husband Asif Ali Zardari and two children.

Malik said Bhutto was shot in the neck and chest as she was getting into the car after addressing thousands of supporters to canvass votes for the January 8 parlimentary elections.
   
Before her supporters could realise what has happened, a suicide bomber blew himself up at the rally in Liaqat Bagh Park killing at least 20 people and injuring several others. Her car was badly damaged in the explosion.
   
Several people who were around her car were blown to pieces. A TV reporter at the scene said the suicide bomber's head was found almost 70 feet from the site of the blast.
   
Eyewitnesses said body parts were strewn across the area. Ambulances rushed the injured from the spot to nearby hospitals.
   
Police officials said it was a suicide attack in which at least 20 people were killed and many others injured.
   
This was the second suicide attack on Bhutto since she returned to Pakistan from exile. Nearly 140 people were killed in two suicide blasts during her homecoming rally in Karachi on October 19.

A high alert has been sounded across the country and President Pervez Musharraf has convened a meeting of his top advisors to take stock of the situation.
   
There was tension in parts of Karachi, including Lyari which is a stronghold of Bhutto's PPP, and Jecobabad.
   
Shopkeepers in many commercial areas of Karachi, such as Clifton, closed their shops.
   
Pakistan's Interior ministry also confirmed that Bhutto is dead.
   
Bhutto's close aides Sherry Rehman and Naheed Khan are among the injured.

Her supporters at the hospital began chanting "Dog, Musharraf, dog," referring to Pakistan's president.
   
Some of them smashed the glass door at the main entrance of the emergency unit, others burst into tears. One man with a flag of Pakistan People's Party tied around his head was beating his chest.

Liaqat Bagh is the same place where Pakistan's first Prime Minister Liaqat Ali Khan was assassinated in October 1951 and Bhutto's father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was hanged at a spot not very far from the place.
   
Bhutto returned to Pakistan after a eight-year self-imposed exile on October 18. She has served twice as Pakistan's prime minister between 1988 and 1996.
   
Malik said Bhutto was shot in the neck and chest by the attacker, who then blew himself up.
   
The PPP leader was rushed to the hospital and taken into emergency surgery.
   
Bhutto's supporters chanted, "Killer, Killer, Musharraf," and stoned cars outside.

"We repeatedly informed the government to provide her proper security and appropriate equipment including jammers, but they paid no heed to our requests," Malik said.
   
Nawaz Sharif, Bhutto's long-time political rival and another former premier, visited the hospital and sat silently next to her body.
   
Limbs ripped apart in the explosion, pieces of clothing and party banners were seen strewn in the blast area. The clothing of some of the victims was shredded and people put party flags over their bodies.

Geo TV showed Zardari, who had returned from Dubai to Islamabad on Thursday to be with Bhutto on her election campaign, weeping inconsolably.

Hundreds of riot police were manning security checkpoints to guard the venue. It was Bhutto's first public meeting in Rawalpindi since she came back to the country.
   
In November, Bhutto had also planned a rally in the city, but President Pervez Musharraf forced her to cancel it, citing security fears.
   
In recent weeks, suicide bombers have repeatedly targeted security forces in Rawalpindi, a city near the capital where Musharraf stays and the Pakistan army has its headquarters.
   
Sharif told Bhutto supporters that he would fight "your war from now on" and that he shared the grief of "the entire nation".
   
Sharif was speaking outside the hospital where Bhutto died.
   
"I assure you that I will fight your war from now on," said Sharif.
   
Describing Bhutto's assassination as the "most tragic incident" in the history of Pakistan, Sharif said "I myself feel threatened." His party temporarily suspended the electioneering in the wake of the assassination.
   
"Are things in control now? Had things been in control, would this have happened?" he said, adding that Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf would have to give answers.
   
"I also feel unprotected and the lady must also have been feeling very unprotected," Sharif said.
   
Criticising Musharraf, he said, "If Musharraf can spend crores on his own security, could he not spend some amount on the security of Bhutto."
   
"We both were struggling for the same cause and we had signed the charter of democracy," Sharif said.
   
"It is tragic not only for PPP but also for my party," he said.

In northwestern city of Peshawar, police used tear gas and batons to break up an angry demonstration after the assassination.
   
More than 100 enraged Bhutto supporters blocked the main trunk road, setting afire billboards and posters of the PML-Q, the main party behind President Musharraf.
   
Hours before Bhutto's assassination, supporters of PML-Q and Sharif's PML-N exchanged heavy fire near Rawalpindi, killing four persons.

A group of PML-Q workers reportedly opened fire on PML-N supporters who were gathering about three kilometres from the airport in Rawalpindi for a meeting to be addressed by Sharif.

Sharif was about two kilometres away when the clash took place.
   
The attacker struck just minutes after Bhutto addressed a rally of thousands of supporters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.
   
There were conflicting accounts over the sequence of events.
      
While Malik said she was shot in th neck and chest by the attacker, who then blew himself up but Javed Iqbal Cheema, spokesman of the Interior Ministry, told state-run Pakistan Telvison that Bhutto died when a suicide bomber targetted  her vehicle.

PPP activist Choudhry Mohd. Nazir said two gunshots rang out when Bhutto's vehicle moved to the main street sand then there was a big explosion next to her car.

A huge picture of her father, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto stood out prominently as his daughter addressed the rally. Minutes later, it was blood, shrieks and confusion all around.