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Report: Bhutto Died From Head Injury
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, whose funeral was held today, died from injuries she suffered when hitting her vehicle’s sunroof according to one report.
The Interior Minister spokesman said a post mortem found no bullets or shrapnel in her body, but an autopsy was not performed. Pakistani officials claim that an investigation is under way to determine why an autopsy wasn’t performed.
Regardless of what exactly caused her to die, the Interior Minister insisted that Al Qaeda was responsible for the attack. He claims that intelligence officials intercepted a phone call about a plot to kill the former Prime Minister.
“We have intelligence intercepts indicating that al Qaeda leader Baitullah Mehsud is behind her assassination,” ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema told a news conference.”
Mehsud is one of Pakistan’s most wanted militant leaders and is based in the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border.
Cheema said authorities had recorded an intercept on Friday morning in which Mehsud had congratulated his people for carrying out the attack.
He also said Mehsud was behind a suicide bomb attack on Bhutto in Karachi that killed about 140 people hours after she arrived back in the country from eight years of exile on October 18 this year.
Benazir Bhutto Laid To Rest
Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was buried Friday in her ancestral hometown, one day after her assassination in Rawalpindi.
She was buried in Naudero, Sindhi province, 350 miles from the southern city of Karachi. Her husband and three children arrived Friday to prepare for the ceremony, and thousands of mourners joined the funeral procession.
Hundreds of thousands of mourners lined the streets of Naudero, many weeping and beating their heads as they walked behind the white ambulance that carried her flag-draped coffin the three mile journey from her family home to the magnificent, three-domed mausoleum at Garhi Khuda Baksh where her father, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, another charismatic political leader to die a violent death, already lies buried.
A huge roar went up as the coffin, covered in the red, black and green flag of her Pakistan People’s Party, arrived at the gates of the white mausoleum. Inside, a mullah led funeral prayers, while the crowds raised their hands in front of their faces and chanted “Allahu Akhbar” (God is Great) three times.
Cities across Pakistan came to a standstill, with schools, public offices and private businesses shut and public transport halted, as the country began three days of official mourning for the opposition leader.
Benazir Bhutto Killed In Suicide Attack
Benazir Bhutto, the Pakistani opposition leader and former Prime Minister, has been killed in a suicide bombing on her political rally today.
Ms Bhutto had been addressing crowds at the garrison city of Rawalpindi, ahead of Pakistan’s general election next month, when witnesses say she was shot through the neck and chest then the bomber detonated his explosives, killing around 20 people.
Ms. Bhutto was declared dead by doctors at a hospital in Rawalpindi at 6:16 p.m. after the doctors had tried to resuscitate her for thirty-five minutes.
As news of her death filtered out, Ms Bhutto’s supporters at the hospital began chanting “Dog, Musharraf, dog,” referring to Pakistan’s President, Pervez Musharraf.
Some of them smashed the glass door at the main entrance of the emergency unit, others burst into tears.
Russia and the United States both swiftly issued condemnations of the atrocity, which was being blamed on Islamic militants.
A Russian foreign ministry spokesman predicted that it would bring fresh instability to the region, and trigger a fresh round of terrorist attacks.
-Chris Jones
108 Die in Blasts Near Bhutto in Karachi (Updated)
Two bombs exploded Thursday night near a truck carrying former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on her triumphant return to Pakistan after eight years in exile, killing at least 108 people 126 people and wounding 150, an official said. Party workers and police said Bhutto was unhurt.
An initial small explosion was followed by a huge blast just feet from the front of the truck carrying Bhutto during a procession through Karachi. The blast shattered windows in her vehicle and set a police escort vehicle on fire.
Those traveling atop the truck with Bhutto climbed down, with one man jumping off while others climbed down. Police Chief Azhar Farooqi told Dawn News that Bhutto was rushed from the area under contingency plans.
-Chris Jones
Benazir Bhutto’s Return Rocked By Bombings
Dozens of people are feared dead in two large explosions near to where former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was being welcomed home.
Bhutto’s truck had just passed when the blasts happened in Karachi, just hours after she ended her eight-year exile.
Hundreds of thousands of people had lined the route to see her. Militants linked to al Qaeda, angered by her support for the US war on terrorism, had threatened to assassinate her.
