Benazir Bhutto Assassinated in Pakistan
Source: Agencies, 27-12-2007
Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in a suicide attack on Thursday, just two months after the former premier returned from exile for a political comeback. Bhutto, a two-time former prime minister, had just addressed a campaign rally for next month's parliamentary elections when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the venue, killing her and at least 10 other people.
There were unconfirmed reports that the attacker had also opened fire on her with a weapon before the explosion. "It may have been pellets packed into the suicide bomber's vest that hit her," interior ministry spokesman Javed Cheema said. It was the second suicide attack at a Bhutto event since she had returned from exile in October, aiming to contest the elections, and comes amid an unprecedented wave of violence in the country.
The deadliest terror attack in Pakistan's history targeted her homecoming rally just hours after her return, leaving 139 people dead. There have been more than 40 suicide attacks in Pakistan this year that have left at least 770 people dead.
Bhutto, educated at Oxford and Harvard, became the first female prime minister of a Muslim country when she took the helm in Pakistan in 1988. Her father, also a Pakistani prime minister, was also assassinated, in 1979.
She had repeatedly accused President Musharraf of being dictator and had been campaigning with fierce criticisms of what she said was his autocratic rule, vowing her Pakistan People's Party would deliver democracy.
Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in a suicide attack on Thursday, just two months after the former premier returned from exile for a political comeback. Bhutto, a two-time former prime minister, had just addressed a campaign rally for next month's parliamentary elections when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the venue, killing her and at least 10 other people.
There were unconfirmed reports that the attacker had also opened fire on her with a weapon before the explosion. "It may have been pellets packed into the suicide bomber's vest that hit her," interior ministry spokesman Javed Cheema said. It was the second suicide attack at a Bhutto event since she had returned from exile in October, aiming to contest the elections, and comes amid an unprecedented wave of violence in the country.
The deadliest terror attack in Pakistan's history targeted her homecoming rally just hours after her return, leaving 139 people dead. There have been more than 40 suicide attacks in Pakistan this year that have left at least 770 people dead.
Bhutto, educated at Oxford and Harvard, became the first female prime minister of a Muslim country when she took the helm in Pakistan in 1988. Her father, also a Pakistani prime minister, was also assassinated, in 1979.
She had repeatedly accused President Musharraf of being dictator and had been campaigning with fierce criticisms of what she said was his autocratic rule, vowing her Pakistan People's Party would deliver democracy.
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