Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto killed in suicide attack

[Celtic Guardian 0]

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8...1698466,00.html

 

(RAWALPINDI, Pakistan) — Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday in a suicide bombing that also killed at least 20 others at a campaign rally, a party aide and a military official 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 the rally was held. He counted about 20 bodies, including police, and could see many other wounded.

 

The road outside was stained with blood and people screamed for ambulances. Others gave water to the wounded lying in the street. The clothing of some of the victims was shredded and people put party flags over their bodies.

 

The bomb went off just minutes after Bhutto spoke to thousands of supporters and she appeared to be the target of the attack. Farahtullah Babar, the spokesman for her party, said her vehicle was about 50 yards away from blast which went off as she was leaving the rally venue.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

ABC: News from Pakistan

NBC: News from Pakistan

CBS: Neckties are in!

[Vanhalen 0]

This is going to be bad news, obviously the story is still breaking but you have a nuclear power completly out of control at the minute. Pakistan is going to completly self destruct at this rate.

 

Bit more from bbc.co.uk/news

 

Benazir Bhutto killed in attack

Benazir Bhutto at the rally on 27 December 2007

Benazir Bhutto had been addressing rallies in many parts of Pakistan

Pakistani former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has been killed in a presumed suicide attack.

 

News of her death was confirmed by a military spokesman and members of her Pakistan People's Party (PPP).

 

Ms Bhutto had just addressed an election rally in Rawalpindi when gunfire and an explosion occurred.

 

At least 15 other people are reported killed in the attack and several more were injured. Ms Bhutto had twice been the country's prime minister.

 

She had been campaigning ahead of elections due in January.

 

The BBC's Barbara Plett says the killing is likely to provoke an agonised response from her followers, especially from her loyal following in Sindh Province.

 

Map

 

Ms Bhutto was key to her party, she was the focus of her party and she was a major political player amongst all those fighting for seats in the forthcoming elections, our correspondent adds.

 

The PPP has the largest support of any party in the country.

 

Analysts note that Rawalpindi, a garrison city, is seen as one of the country's most secure cities, making the attack even more embarrassing for the military authorities.

 

Scene of grief

 

The explosion occurred close to an entrance gate of the park in Rawalpindi where Ms Bhutto had been speaking.

 

Scene from the blast

The blast caused carnage

 

Wasif Ali Khan, a member of the PPP who was at Rawalpindi General Hospital, said she died at 1816 (1316 GMT).

 

Supporters at the hospital began chanting "Dog, Musharraf, dog", referring to President Pervez Musharraf, the Associated Press (AP) reports.

 

Some broke the glass door at the main entrance to the emergency unit as others wept.

 

A man with a PPP flag tied around his head could be seen beating his chest, the agency adds.

 

An interior ministry spokesman, Javed Cheema, was quoted as saying by AFP that she may have been killed by pellets packed into the suicide bomber's vest.

 

However, AP quoted a PPP security adviser as saying she was shot in the neck and chest as she got into her vehicle, before the gunman blew himself up.

 

Return from exile

 

Among the mourners at the hospital was Nawaz Sharif, also a former prime minister and opposition leader.

 

 

BENAZIR BHUTTO

Educated at Harvard and Oxford

Father led Pakistan before being executed in 1979

Spent five years in prison

Served as PM from 1988-1990 and 1993-1996

Sacked twice by president on corruption charges

Formed alliance with rival ex-PM Nawaz Sharif in 2006

Ended self-imposed exile by returning to Pakistan in October

 

Earlier on Thursday at least four people were killed ahead of an election rally he had been preparing to attend close to Rawalpindi.

 

The killing was condemned by the US and Russia, and a statement is expected shortly from the UK.

 

"The attack shows that there are still those in Pakistan trying to undermine reconciliation and democratic development in Pakistan," a US state department official said.

 

Russia's foreign ministry condemned the attack, offered condolences to Ms Bhutto's family and said it hoped the Pakistani leadership would "manage to take necessary steps to ensure stability in the country".

 

France spoke of an "odious" act and said it was deeply concerned.

 

Ms Bhutto returned from self-imposed exile in October after years out of Pakistan where she had faced corruption charges.

 

Her return was the result of a power-sharing agreement with President Musharraf in which he granted an amnesty that covered the court cases she was facing.

 

Since her return relations with Mr Musharraf had broken down.

 

On the day of her return she led a motor cavalcade through the city of Karachi. It was hit by a double suicide attack that left some 130 dead.

[Vanhalen 0]

Obituary: Benazir Bhutto

Benazir Bhutto followed her father into politics, and both of them died because of it - he was executed in 1979, she fell victim to an apparent suicide bomb attack.

 

Benazir Bhutto

Ms Bhutto had a volatile political career

 

Her two brothers also suffered violent deaths.

 

Like the Nehru-Gandhi family in India, the Bhuttos of Pakistan are one of the world's most famous political dynasties. Benazir's father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was prime minister of Pakistan in the early 1970s.

 

His government was one of the few in the 30 years following independence that was not run by the army.

 

Born in 1953 in the province of Sindh and educated at Harvard and Oxford, Ms Bhutto gained credibility from her father's high profile, even though she was a reluctant convert to politics.

 

She was twice prime minister of Pakistan, from 1988 to 1990, and from 1993 to 1996.

 

Stubbornness

 

On both occasions she was dismissed from office by the president for alleged corruption.

 

The dismissals typified her volatile political career, which was characterised by numerous peaks and troughs. At the height of her popularity - shortly after her first election - she was one of the most high-profile women leaders in the world.

 

Young and glamorous, she successfully portrayed herself as a refreshing contrast to the overwhelmingly male-dominated political establishment.

 

But after her second fall from power, her name came to be seen by some as synonymous with corruption and bad governance.

 

Asif Zardari going to court

Asif Zardari has faced numerous corruption charges

 

The determination and stubbornness for which Ms Bhutto was renowned was first seen after her father was imprisoned and charged with murder by Gen Zia ul-Haq in 1977, following a military coup. Two years later he was executed.

 

Ms Bhutto was imprisoned just before her father's death and spent most of her five-year jail term in solitary confinement. She described the conditions as extremely hard.

 

During stints out of prison for medical treatment, Ms Bhutto set up a Pakistan People's Party office in London, and began a campaign against General Zia.

 

She returned to Pakistan in 1986, attracting huge crowds to political rallies.

 

After Gen Zia died in an explosion on board his aircraft in 1988, she became one of the first democratically elected female prime ministers in an Islamic country.

 

Corruption charges

 

During both her stints in power, the role of Ms Bhutto's husband, Asif Zardari, proved highly controversial.

 

He played a prominent role in both her administrations, and has been accused by various Pakistani governments of stealing millions of dollars from state coffers - charges he denies, as did Ms Bhutto herself.

 

Many commentators argued that the downfall of Ms Bhutto's government was accelerated by the alleged greed of her husband.

 

None of about 18 corruption and criminal cases against Mr Zardari has been proved in court after 10 years. But he served at least eight years in jail.

 

He was freed on bail in 2004, amid accusations that the charges against him were weak and going nowhere.

 

Ms Bhutto also steadfastly denied all the corruption charges against her, which she said were politically motivated.

 

She faced corruption charges in at least five cases, all without a conviction, until amnestied in October 2007.

 

General Musharraf

President Pervez Musharraf held secret talks with Ms Bhutto

 

She was convicted in 1999 for failing to appear in court, but the Supreme Court later overturned that judgement.

 

Soon after the conviction, audiotapes of conversations between the judge and some top aides of then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif were discovered that showed that the judge had been under pressure to convict.

 

Ms Bhutto left Pakistan in 1999 to live abroad, but questions about her and her husband's wealth continued to dog her.

 

She appealed against a conviction in the Swiss courts for money-laundering.

 

During her years outside Pakistan, Ms Bhutto lived with her three children in Dubai, where she was joined by her husband after he was freed in 2004.

 

She was a regular visitor to Western capitals, delivering lectures at universities and think-tanks and meeting government officials.

 

Army mistrust

 

Ms Bhutto returned to Pakistan on 18 October 2007 after President Musharraf signed into law an ordinance granting her and others an amnesty from corruption charges.

 

Observers said the military regime saw her as a natural ally in its efforts to isolate religious forces and their surrogate militants.

 

She declined a government offer to let her party head the national government after the 2002 elections, in which the party received the largest number of votes.

 

In the months before her death, she had emerged again as a strong contender for power.

 

Some in Pakistan believe her secret talks with the military regime amounted to betrayal of democratic forces as these talks shored up President Musharraf's grip on the country.

 

Others said such talks indicated that the military might at long last be getting over its decades-old mistrust of Ms Bhutto and her party, and interpreted it as a good omen for democracy.

 

Western powers saw in her a popular leader with liberal leanings who could bring much needed legitimacy to Mr Musharraf's role in the "war against terror".

 

Unhappy family

 

Benazir Bhutto was the last remaining bearer of her late father's political legacy.

 

Her brother, Murtaza - who was once expected to play the role of party leader - fled to the then-communist Afghanistan after his father's fall.

 

From there, and various Middle Eastern capitals, he mounted a campaign against Pakistan's military government with a militant group called al-Zulfikar.

 

He won elections from exile in 1993 and became a provincial legislator, returning home soon afterwards, only to be shot dead under mysterious circumstances in 1996.

 

Benazir's other brother, Shahnawaz - also politically active but in less violent ways than Murtaza - was found dead in his French Riviera apartment in 1985.

[Guest Jack Spicer]

Supreme B was one gully chick

[bobobrazil1984 0]

I'd bet money Musharraf's goons are really behind this. Too convenient. She wasnt killed by the bomb...she was killed by gunshot wounds to the neck while getting away from the scene. Funny how for months, everything happens exactly as it needs to to keep Musharraf in power... Bhutto was going to win the next election. Here comes martial law again!!!

 

Not to mention they kept her security low even after the first bombing and she kept complaining about how low her security was and they deliberately didn't increase it. This is political murder, no more.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Well this is hardly surprising. Actually, the only surprise here is that it didn't happen sooner.

[MrRant 0]

[Boon 0]

This does not bode well for anyone.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

 

I assume you posted this only because a "Bhuttowned" one hasn't been made yet.

[rising up out of the back seat-nuh 0]

This does not bode well for anyone.

QFT

[snuffbox 0]

General General General.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Even if Parv was behind this I'm sure there's four or five layers he can hide behind to disassociate himself from any kind of blame.

[Jingus 0]

It's not like she was lacking in enemies, there was practically a line of people all queing up to kill her. There had been three other assassination attempts since she'd returned to the country, including one the day before. Why the hell was she riding around in a parade, standing up through the sunroof, in plain view of any potential assassin?

 

Oh, and the obituary is cute, with all the "alleged" adjectives in front of the fairly well-known charges that both she and her husband were real big thieves.

[snuffbox 0]

Also, John Kennedy should have lived out his presidency in a bomb shelter.

[Guest My Pal, the Tortoise]

It's not like she was lacking in enemies, there was practically a line of people all queing up to kill her. There had been three other assassination attempts since she'd returned to the country, including one the day before. Why the hell was she riding around in a parade, standing up through the sunroof, in plain view of any potential assassin?

bitch had it comin'

[Jingus 0]

Also, John Kennedy should have lived out his presidency in a bomb shelter.

Do you argue with me because you have any actual point, or just because you reflexively disagree with any particular thing I have to say?

 

bitch had it comin'

Same thing here, Czech. Your e-stalking of me on here is just creepy sometimes.

 

 

All I was saying that this woman had many enemies which were actively trying to kill her, and she knew it. They'd tried three times before, including the day before she was killed. If a suicide bomber tries to kill you, why on earth would you go out the very next day in a parade, standing up in plain view, completely unprotected, with nothing but air between her and the people wanting to murder her?

[Guest My Pal, the Tortoise]

I came to my conclusion that the bitch had it comin' independent of you! >

[Jingus 0]

Oh. My bad.

 

If you want to believe Marney, her parents personally had some dealings with Bhutto which made it sound kinda like she was indeed a bitch who had it coming.

[snuffbox 0]

I try not to believe the conspiracy theories that random people tell me online.

[Jingus 0]

What conspiracy theories? Her family lived in Pakistan, some still do. The stories were more along the line of "Bhutto demanded a cut of the money and sent some goons to our house for it". That's not so far out of line with the many stories about both her and her husband being thieves on an epic level.

 

No, for conspiracy theories, look no further than the wacky ongoing saga of what her exact cause of death was. We've heard at least three mutually exclusive versions. Someone's lying, pick your favorites on who and why.

[snuffbox 0]

My family lived in Pakistan, too, and they told me that we shouldn't elect Presidents who don't know the names of the leaders of major trouble-spot countries.

 

(No, my family never lived in Pakistan. And it might be for the best to not just believe everything people tell you online.)

[Jingus 0]

It's not like this is someone I met yesterday. I've known her for six years. If she's lying, then lying to people on the internet must be her full-time job in order to keep track of her own longterm fake continuity so accurately.

[Guest My Pal, the Tortoise]

It's not like this is someone I met yesterday. I've known her for six years. If she's lying, then lying to people on the internet must be her full-time job in order to keep track of her own longterm fake continuity so accurately.

[Jingus 0]

Who is that, and why does it matter? (If it's an example of "dudes pretend to be chicks online all the time", remember that DrTom knows her personally and then he'd be lying too and OMG conspiracy~!)

 

Snuffles, why are you so damned determined that she's lying? It can only be one of three things: 1.you think anything I bring to a discussion is automatically false, which means you have an emotional bias; 2.you think that the majority of the people on the internet always lie, which if it's true means I shouldn't trust you because you're lying right now; or 3.you just don't trust anything Marney in particular has to say, in which case my advice would be to go to the Pit and call her a liar to her face, as it were.

[snuffbox 0]

Former Secretary of State Wildpegasus & Ambassador to the UN Leena.

[Jingus 0]

So do you have a single goddamn thing to actually add to any sort of discussion? Looking back through this thread, you've quite literally posted nothing but lousy jokes, a couple of which don't even make any fucking sense. That's the very definition of trolling.

[Gary Floyd 0]

It's not like this is someone I met yesterday. I've known her for six years. If she's lying, then lying to people on the internet must be her full-time job in order to keep track of her own longterm fake continuity so accurately.

Post of the week.

 

Also, WP's picture never fails to crack me up.

[Guest dannymaffwasmurdered]

http://board.deathvalleydriver.com/index.p...st&p=824456

 

Jingus is a one man crime spree.

[Gary Floyd 0]

Meanwhile, This thread on Fark is about the worst thing ever.