Pakistan's oppn leader Bhutto killed in suicide attack
Pakistan’s opposition leader and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday evening in a suicide attack that killed at least 20 others at a campaign rally in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, reports said.
Eyewitnesses said Bhutto was fired upon at close range before the blast, and an official from her Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) said she was further injured by the explosion, which was apparently caused by a suicide attacker.
She breathed her last at around 7:01 pm NST at the Rawalpindi General Hospital where she was taken after the attack.
CNN reported that witnesses at the scene described the assassin as opening fire on Bhutto and her entourage, hitting her at least once in the neck and once in the chest, before blowing himself up.
According to Associated Press, Bhutto’s supporters at the hospital began chanting "Dog, Musharraf, dog," referring to Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf. Some of them smashed the glass door at the main entrance of the emergency unit, others burst into tears.
In October, Bhutto had narrowly escaped a suicide attack in Karachi when she returned from exile to Pakistan.
In Kathmandu, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has expressed shock and grief over the demise of Benazir Bhutto. He has extended heartfelt condolences to Bhutto's family and Pakistan People's Party. nepalnews.com mk Dec 27 07
