Bhutto Assassination Sparks Unrest

Pakistan rumbled with grief and fury after a suicide assassin killed opposition leader Benazir Bhutto on Thursday.

Link: CNN Coverage

Supporters attacked police and burned tires in several cities. At the hospital where Bhutto died, some backers smashed glass and chanted slogans against President Pervez Musharraf, accusing him of complicity in her killing. Musharraf announced three days of mourning for Bhutto and blamed terrorists for Bhutto's death, and said he would redouble his efforts to fight them.

The 54-year-old former prime minister was killed by a suicide attacker who struck just minutes after Bhutto addressed thousands of supporters in Rawalpindi. Bhutto's security adviser said she was shot in the neck and chest by the attacker, who then blew himself up.

Bhutto was rushed to the hospital and taken into emergency surgery. She died about an hour after the attack.

At least 20 other people were feared killed in the attack, police and witnesses said.

An Associated Press reporter at the scene saw body parts and flesh scattered at the back gate of the Liaqat Bagh Park in Rawalpindi, where Bhutto had spoken. He counted about 20 bodies, including police, and could see many others wounded.

As news of Bhutto's death spread, angry supporters took to the streets in the northwestern city of Peshawar as well other areas, chanting slogans against Musharraf. In Rawalpindi, Bhutto's supporters burned election posters from the ruling party and attacked police, who fled the scene.

Nawaz Sharif, the leader of a rival opposition party, told mourners at the hospital that he would help them "take the revenge for her death."

In Karachi, shop owners quickly closed their businesses as supporters from Bhutto's party burned tires on the roads.

She was killed just a few miles from the scene of her father's violent death 28 years earlier. He was executed by hanging in 1979 on charges of conspiracy to murder that supporters say were politically motivated by the then-military regime. His killing led to violent protests across the country.

Bhutto served twice as Pakistan's prime minister between 1988 and 1996. She had returned to Pakistan from an eight-year exile Oct. 18, saying she knew she risked death. Her homecoming parade in Karachi was also targeted by a suicide attacker, killing more than 140 people. On that occasion she narrowly escaped injury.

Elections Soon

Bhutto's death comes just two weeks before legislative elections in which her party was expected to do well.

Bhutto's has thrown the campaign for the Jan. 8 parliamentary elections into chaos.

An official at Pakistan's Interior Ministry said shortly after Bhutto's death, Musharraf convened an emergency meeting with his senior staff. They are expected to discuss whether to postpone the election.

Musharraf has condemned the assassination and is calling for calm in the wake of Bhutto's death. The state-run Associated Press of Pakistan said Musharraf is calling on the people of Pakistan to grieve with a renewed resolve to continue fighting against terror.

Opposition leader Sharif said his party will boycott next month's parliamentary elections.

Sharif, a former prime minister, also is demanding that Musharraf resign immediately.

He said it's not possible to hold free and fair elections with Musharraf in power.

U.S. Condemns Attack

The U.S. State Department has issued a statement condemning the attack.

"Certainly, we condemn the attack on this rally," said deputy State Department spokesman Tom Casey. "It demonstrates that there are still those in Pakistan who want to subvert reconciliation and efforts to advance democracy."

For months, the United States has been encouraging Musharraf to reach some kind of political accommodation with his opponents, particularly Bhutto.

President George W. Bush, speaking from his Crawford, Texas, ranch, sent his condolences to Bhutto's family and to the families of those who were killed.

"The United States strongly condemns this cowardly act by murderous extremists," Bush said. "Those who committed this crime must be brought to justice."