Pakistan: Benazir Bhutto Assassinated

By Sheriff Ahamed - TNS

Rawalpindi – Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on Thursday December 27, at the end of a campaign rally in Rawalpindi, party official said. A long gunman shot her in the in the neck and the chest as she was getting into her car and then blew himself up, killing at least twenty others, the sources further said.

An aide from her party told TNS that Bhutto had died in the attack at the city's Liaqat Bagh park. "At 6:16 p.m. [8:16 a.m. ET] she expired," said Wasif Ali Khan, a member of Bhutto's party who was at Rawalpindi General Hospital.

A Press reporter at the scene also counted about 20 bodies, including police, and could see many other wounded people at the blast site.

Earlier Ms. Bhutto escaped an assassination attempt in October when twin explosions ripped through crowds in Karachi welcoming her home from eight years of exile. Nearly 150 people died in the attacks.

Born in 1953 in the province of Sindh and educated at Harvard and Oxford, the 54-year-old Bhutto, eldest daughter of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, served two terms as prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990, and from 1993 to 1996. Her two brothers also suffered violent deaths.

Observers believed that Bhutto's death would spark fierce protests in a country where political bloodshed is common. "All of Pakistan is in danger now," said a Pakistan Peoples Party official. "You will see lots of riots … lots of blood."

Upon hearing reports of her death, Bhutto's supporters at the hospital began chanting "Dog, Musharraf, dog," referring to Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf.

Ms Bhutto returned from self-imposed exile in October after years out of Pakistan where she had faced corruption charges. Her return was the result of a power-sharing agreement with President Musharraf in which he granted an amnesty that covered the court cases she was facing.

Since her return relations with Mr Musharraf had broken down.

Meanwhile Thursday, four people were killed during a gun battle between pro-government supporters and backers of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif at a rally outside Pakistan's capital, Islamabad.

The shooting was the worst violence in the campaign for the Jan. 8 parliamentary election, before Bhutto’s assassination. A spokesman for Sharif's party said the opposition leader was about two kilometres away when pro-government party supporters opened fire.

Like the Nehru-Gandhi family in India, the Bhuttos of Pakistan are one of the world's most famous political dynasties.