Pakistan in turmoil after Benazir assassination

FINAL PASSAGE: People carry the coffin of Benazir Bhutto at a hospital in Rawalpindi.

        

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Rawalpindi: Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on Thursday by an attacker who shot her after a campaign rally and then blew himself up.

At least 20 others were killed in the attack on the rally for January 8 parliamentary elections where the 54-year-old former prime minister had just spoken.

Angry supporters rioted in the southern port city of Karachi after her killing, firing shots at police, setting tires and cars on fire and burning a gas station. One person was killed north of Karachi in the violent aftermath of the assassination.

At the hospital where Benazir died, some supporters smashed glass and wailed, chanting slogans against President Pervez Musharraf. Musharraf blamed Islamic extremists for her death and said he would redouble his efforts to fight them.

''This is the work of those terrorists with whom we are engaged in war,'' he said in a nationally televised speech. ''I have been saying that the nation faces the greatest threats from these terrorists. ... We will not rest until we eliminate these terrorists and root them out.''

In the US, a tense looking President Bush strongly condemned the attack ''by murderous extremists who are trying to undermine Pakistan's democracy.''

Musharraf convened an emergency meeting with his senior staff, where they were expected to discuss whether to postpone the elections, an official at the Interior Ministry said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks.

Nawaz Sharif, another former prime minister and leader of the PML (N), demanded Musharraf resign immediately and announced his party would boycott the upcoming election.

Assassin blew himself up

The attacker struck just minutes after Benazir addressed thousands of supporters in the Rawalpindi, near Islamabad. She was shot in the neck and chest by the attacker, who then blew himself up, said Rehman Malik, Benazir's security adviser.

Sardar Qamar Hayyat, a leader from Benazir's party, said at the time of the attack he was standing about 10 yards away from her vehicle: a white, bulletproof SUV with a sunroof.

''She was inside the vehicle and was coming out from the gate after addressing the rally when some of the youths started chanting slogans in her favor. Then I saw a smiling Benazir emerging from the vehicle's roof and responding to their slogans,'' he said.

''Then I saw a thin, young man jumping toward her vehicle from the back and opening fire. Moments later, I saw her speeding vehicle going away,'' he added.

Mangled bodies lay in a pool of blood and pieces of clothing and shoes were scattered on the road. The clothing of some victims was shredded and people covered their bodies with party flags.

There was an acrid smell of explosive fumes in the air.