Bhutto Assassination Plunges Pakistan Into Turmoil
December 27, 2007 | 8:22 pm | by t-blender |Rate It:
reuters.com: ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The body of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was taken to her family village for burial on Friday, a day after she was assassinated by a suicide bomber, plunging the nuclear-armed country into one of the worst crises in its 60-year history.
Her killing after an election rally in the city of Rawalpindi triggered a wave of violence, especially in her native Sindh province, and could lead to the postponement of January 8 polls meant to return Pakistan to civilian-led democracy.
Bhutto, 54, had hoped the huge popular following she enjoyed among the Pakistani poor would propel her to power for the third time as prime minister in an election meant to stabilize a country racked by Islamist violence.
But as she left the rally, where she spoke of threats to her life, she stood up to wave to supporters from the sun-roof of her bullet-proof vehicle. The attacker fired shots at her before blowing himself up, police and witnesses said.
She was pronounced dead in hospital in Rawalpindi, the home of the Pakistan army and the same city where her father, former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was hanged in 1979 after being deposed by a military coup.
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