Rawalpindi, PAKISTAN (Agencies)
Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was killed Thursday in a suicide attack at a campaign rally, the interior ministry has confirmed.
A suicide bomber blew himself up just after the rally and it was not immediately clear how she died.
"It may have been pellets packed into the suicide bomber's vest that hit her," interior ministry spokesman Javed Cheema told AFP.
But her party’s security adviser told reporters she was shot in the neck and chest as she got into her vehicle, then the gunman blew himself up.
Her husband had earlier told reporters that she was in “serious condition” and that she was undergoing a surgery.
A suspected suicide bomber killed at least 20 people outside a rally by Bhutto's supporters inRawalpindi, police said.
The incident occurred only hours after four people were shot dead and three wounded at an election campaign rally for former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
Witnesses said gunmen opened fire from a nearby compound belonging to a rival political party backing President Pervez Musharraf, but this was not immediately confirmed by police.
The incident began when Sharif supporters were preparing banners for the rally and a scuffle broke out, an official said. Sharif was not present at the time.
"Four people have been killed and three others injured," said local police official Shoaib Janbaz, declining to give further details.
The incident took place on the main road that connects the capital Islamabad with the international airport in the nearby city of Rawalpindi.
Sharif said earlier he had been told by police that members of the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League (Q) were responsible.
Sharif was several kilometers away from the scene of the shooting, on his way to Rawalpindi from a rally in the town of Gujjar Khan in Punjab province.
A spokesman for the pro-Musharraf party dismissed suggestions that his workers had been involved as a "baseless allegation".
"None of our workers were involved. We strongly condemn this incident, and we hope the law will take its course and the culprits are duly punished," said the spokesman, Tariq Azim Khan. |
