Pakistan's Bhutto assassinated in gun, bomb attack
Thu Dec 27, 2007 9:38am EST
By Augustine Anthony
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani opposition
leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on Thursday in
a gun and bomb attack as she left an election rally in
the city of Rawalpindi.
State media and her party confirmed her death.
"She has been martyred," said party official Rehman
Malik.
Bhutto, 54, died in hospital in Rawalpindi. Ary-One
Television said she had been shot in the head.
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.
Police said 16 people had been killed in the blast,
which occurred during campaigning for a January 8
national election. It is unclear if the poll will now
go ahead.
"It is the act of those who want to disintegrate
Pakistan because she was a symbol of unity. They have
finished the Bhutto family. They are enemies of
Pakistan," senior Bhutto party official Farzana Raja
told Reuters.
Bhutto's father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was Pakistan's
first popularly elected prime minister. He was
executed in 1979 after being deposed in a military
coup.
A Reuters witness at the scene of the attack said he
had heard two shots moments before the blast. Another
Reuters witness saw bodies and a mutilated human head
strewn on a road outside the park where she held her
rally.
A spokesman for President Pervez Musharraf said he had
to confirm the news before commenting.
A suicide bomber killed nearly 150 people in an attack
on Bhutto on October 19 as she paraded through the
southern city of Karachi on her return from eight
years in self-imposed exile.
Islamist militants were blamed for that attack but
Bhutto had said she was prepared to face the danger to
help the country.
In her speech on Thursday, Bhutto spoke of the risks
she faced.
"I put my life in danger and came here because I feel
this country is in danger. People are worried. We will
bring the country out of this crisis," Bhutto told the
rally.
TEARS, SHOTS
People cried and hugged each other outside the
hospital where she died. Some shouted anti-Musharraf
slogans.
Another former prime minister and opposition leader,
Nawaz Sharif, spoke to the crowd.
"My heart is bleeding and I'm as grieved as you are,"
Sharif said.
Residents of Karachi, Bhutto's home town, said they
had heard gun shots after news of Bhutto's death
spread, apparently from her enraged supporters.
On international financial markets, gold and
government bonds rose while U.S. stock futures fell on
Thursday after news of Bhutto's assassination.
Analysts say the shock of the Bhutto news triggered a
classic capital flight to assets which are considered
as safe havens in times of geopolitical stress.
Bhutto became the first female prime minister in the
Muslim world when she was elected in 1988 at the age
of 35. She was deposed in 1990, re-elected in 1993,
and ousted again in 1996 amid charges of corruption
and mismanagement.
She said the charges were politically motivated but in
1999 chose to stay in exile rather than face them.
Bhutto's family is no stranger to violence.
Both of her brothers died in mysterious circumstances
and she had said al Qaeda assassins tried to kill her
several times in the 1990s.
Intelligence reports have said al Qaeda, the Taliban
and Pakistani jihadi groups have sent suicide bombers
after her.
(Additional reporting by Kamran Haider; Writing by
Robert Birsel; editing by David Fogarty)
© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved.
---------------
Jusfiq Hadjar gelar Sutan Maradjo Lelo
Allah yang disembah orang Islam tipikal dan yang digambarkan oleh al-Mushaf itu
dungu, buas, kejam, keji, ganas, zalim lagi biadab hanyalah Allah fiktif.
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