Benazir assassinated
Friday, 28 December 2007
RAWALPINDI, DEC 27 (Agencies): Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto died Thursday apparently after being shot and then attacked by a suicide bomber as she left a campaign rally, a party aide said.
"At 6:16 pm she expired," said Wasif Ali Khan, a member of Bhutto's party who was at Rawalpindi General Hospital.
A senior military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to comment, confirmed that Bhutto had died.
Rehman Malik, Bhutto's security adviser, said she was shot in the neck and chest during the attack.
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.
"We repeatedly informed the government to provide her proper security and appropriate equipment including jammers, but they paid no heed to our requests," he said.
The attack came just hours after four supporters of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif died when members of another political party opened fire on them at a rally near the Islamabad airport Thursday, Pakistan police said.
Several other members of Sharif's party were wounded, police said.
After Bhutto's death, her supporters at the hospital began chanting "Dog, Musharraf, dog," referring to Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf.
Sen. Babar Awan, Bhutto's lawyer, said, "The surgeons confirmed that she has been martyred."
At least 20 others were killed in the blast that took place as Bhutto left a political rally where she addressed thousands of supporters to canvas votes for Jan. 8 parliamentary elections.
Video of the scene just moments before the explosion showed Bhutto stepping into a heavily-guarded vehicle to leave the rally.
Bhutto was rushed to Rawalpindi General Hospital-less than two miles from the bombing scene-where doctors pronounced her dead.
Former Pakistan government spokesman Tariq Azim Khan said while it appeared Bhutto was shot, it was unclear if the bullet wounds to her head and neck were caused by a shooting or if it was shrapnel from the bomb.
The bomber detonated as he tried to enter the rally where thousands of people gathered to hear Bhutto speak, police said.
The number of wounded was not immediately known. However, video of the scene showed ambulances lined up to take many to hospitals.
Her homecoming parade in Karachi was also targeted by a suicide attacker, killing more than 140 people. On that occasion she narrowly escaped injury.
However, angry supporters Thursday took to the streets in the northwestern city of Peshawar as well other areas, chanting slogans against Musharraf. In Rawalpindi, the site of the attack, Bhutto's supporters burned election posters from the ruling party and attacked police, who fled from the scene.
In Karachi, shop owners quickly closed their businesses as supporters from Bhutto's party burned tires on the roads.
Nawaz Sharif, another former premier and leader of a rival opposition party, rushed to the hospital and addressed the crowd.
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.
US officials said they were looking into reports of Bhutto's death.
Bhutto’s life a sweeping
epic of blood and
controversy
The suicide attack that killed Benazir Bhutto cut short an epic life, one bathed in blood and awash with controversy, according to a internet report.
Bhutto’s father was hanged and a brother was shot to death. She had risen to become the Muslim world’s first female prime minister, only to lose office and flee Pakistan for most of a decade in the face of accusations she was corrupt.
And when, finally, she returned in October to marshal the opposition against President Pervez Musharraf, her homecoming parade in Karachi was targeted by a suicide attacker. More than 140 people, died, but the 54-year-old Bhutto escaped injury and threw herself into the campaign.
Her father was Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, scion of a wealthy landowning family in southern Pakistan and founder of the populist Pakistan People’s Party. The elder Bhutto was president and then prime minister of Pakistan before his ouster in a 1977 military coup; two years later, he was executed by the government of Gen. Zia-ul Haq after being convicted of engineering the murder of a political opponent.
A year later, her youngest brother, Shahnawaz, had died under mysterious circumstances in France; the family insisted he was poisoned, but no charges were brought.
The elder Bhutto had sent his daughter to study politics and government at Harvard and then at Oxford, where she was elected to lead the prestigious debating society, the Oxford Union.
Bhutto returned to Pakistan after he father’s death, swearing to continue his work. She was detained several times before being exiled to England in 1984. Two years later, she returned again to lead rallies for the restoration of civilian rule.
After Zia’s death in a mysterious plane crash in 1988, Bhutto gave birth to the first of her three children. Beautiful, charismatic and articulate, she led her party to an election victory and became the first woman to lead a modern Muslim nation.
Her first administration was clouded by allegations of corruption and clashes with Pakistan’s powerful military; her administration was dismissed after 20 months.
She was re-elected in 1993. But three years later, her brother Murtaza died in a gunbattle with police in Karachi; Bhutto’s husband, Asif Ali Zardari, was charged with his murder. The charges eventually were overturned, but Zardari spent eight years in prison on those accusations and others involving corrupt dealings allegedly amounting to millions of dollars.
"At 6:16 pm she expired," said Wasif Ali Khan, a member of Bhutto's party who was at Rawalpindi General Hospital.
A senior military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to comment, confirmed that Bhutto had died.
Rehman Malik, Bhutto's security adviser, said she was shot in the neck and chest during the attack.
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.
"We repeatedly informed the government to provide her proper security and appropriate equipment including jammers, but they paid no heed to our requests," he said.
The attack came just hours after four supporters of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif died when members of another political party opened fire on them at a rally near the Islamabad airport Thursday, Pakistan police said.
Several other members of Sharif's party were wounded, police said.
After Bhutto's death, her supporters at the hospital began chanting "Dog, Musharraf, dog," referring to Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf.
Sen. Babar Awan, Bhutto's lawyer, said, "The surgeons confirmed that she has been martyred."
At least 20 others were killed in the blast that took place as Bhutto left a political rally where she addressed thousands of supporters to canvas votes for Jan. 8 parliamentary elections.
Video of the scene just moments before the explosion showed Bhutto stepping into a heavily-guarded vehicle to leave the rally.
Bhutto was rushed to Rawalpindi General Hospital-less than two miles from the bombing scene-where doctors pronounced her dead.
Former Pakistan government spokesman Tariq Azim Khan said while it appeared Bhutto was shot, it was unclear if the bullet wounds to her head and neck were caused by a shooting or if it was shrapnel from the bomb.
The bomber detonated as he tried to enter the rally where thousands of people gathered to hear Bhutto speak, police said.
The number of wounded was not immediately known. However, video of the scene showed ambulances lined up to take many to hospitals.
Her homecoming parade in Karachi was also targeted by a suicide attacker, killing more than 140 people. On that occasion she narrowly escaped injury.
However, angry supporters Thursday took to the streets in the northwestern city of Peshawar as well other areas, chanting slogans against Musharraf. In Rawalpindi, the site of the attack, Bhutto's supporters burned election posters from the ruling party and attacked police, who fled from the scene.
In Karachi, shop owners quickly closed their businesses as supporters from Bhutto's party burned tires on the roads.
Nawaz Sharif, another former premier and leader of a rival opposition party, rushed to the hospital and addressed the crowd.
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.
US officials said they were looking into reports of Bhutto's death.
Bhutto’s life a sweeping
epic of blood and
controversy
The suicide attack that killed Benazir Bhutto cut short an epic life, one bathed in blood and awash with controversy, according to a internet report.
Bhutto’s father was hanged and a brother was shot to death. She had risen to become the Muslim world’s first female prime minister, only to lose office and flee Pakistan for most of a decade in the face of accusations she was corrupt.
And when, finally, she returned in October to marshal the opposition against President Pervez Musharraf, her homecoming parade in Karachi was targeted by a suicide attacker. More than 140 people, died, but the 54-year-old Bhutto escaped injury and threw herself into the campaign.
Her father was Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, scion of a wealthy landowning family in southern Pakistan and founder of the populist Pakistan People’s Party. The elder Bhutto was president and then prime minister of Pakistan before his ouster in a 1977 military coup; two years later, he was executed by the government of Gen. Zia-ul Haq after being convicted of engineering the murder of a political opponent.
A year later, her youngest brother, Shahnawaz, had died under mysterious circumstances in France; the family insisted he was poisoned, but no charges were brought.
The elder Bhutto had sent his daughter to study politics and government at Harvard and then at Oxford, where she was elected to lead the prestigious debating society, the Oxford Union.
Bhutto returned to Pakistan after he father’s death, swearing to continue his work. She was detained several times before being exiled to England in 1984. Two years later, she returned again to lead rallies for the restoration of civilian rule.
After Zia’s death in a mysterious plane crash in 1988, Bhutto gave birth to the first of her three children. Beautiful, charismatic and articulate, she led her party to an election victory and became the first woman to lead a modern Muslim nation.
Her first administration was clouded by allegations of corruption and clashes with Pakistan’s powerful military; her administration was dismissed after 20 months.
She was re-elected in 1993. But three years later, her brother Murtaza died in a gunbattle with police in Karachi; Bhutto’s husband, Asif Ali Zardari, was charged with his murder. The charges eventually were overturned, but Zardari spent eight years in prison on those accusations and others involving corrupt dealings allegedly amounting to millions of dollars.