Benazir Bhutto assassinated in explosion attack

(CCTV.com)
Updated: 2007-12-28 13:46

Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has been killed by a suicide bomber. An aide said she was driving away from a campaign rally just minutes after addressing thousands of supporters when the attack took place.

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.

Rehman Malik, Bhutto's security adviser, said she was shot in the neck and chest by the attacker, who then blew himself up.

But a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, told state-run Pakistan Television that Bhutto died when a suicide bomber struck her vehicle.

At least 20 others were killed in the blast.

Bhutto was rushed to Rawalpindi General Hospital and taken into emergency surgery.

A member of Bhutto's party who was at the hospital said she died just after 6 pm.

Bhutto's supporters at the hospital exploded in anger, smashing the glass door at the main entrance of the emergency unit. Others burst into tears.

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif said Bhutto's death was a sorrow shared by "the entire nation".

Nawaz Sharif, Former Pkistani prime minister, said, "My brothers from the People's Party, my elders from the People's Party, my sisters from the People's Party, in this hour of grief the PML-N and Nawaz Sharif are with you. This is not only your sorrow, this is anguish for all of us, for the entire nation."

The death of the charismatic former prime minister threw the campaign for the January 8 election into chaos and created fears of mass protests and an eruption of violence across the country.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf called an emergency meeting with top government officials.

He appealed to the nation to remain peaceful "so that the evil designs of terrorists can be defeated".