The assassination of Benazir Bhutto, President Pervez Musharraf's most powerful opponent, has thrown Pakistan into chaos just 12 days before elections.
Bhutto died after gunfire and a suicide bomb attack targeted her at a campaign rally outside the Pakistani capital on Thursday, December 27, 2007. As news of her death spread, angry supporters poured onto streets in several cities, burning tires and vehicles. The violence killed at least nine people and plunged efforts to restore democracy to the nuclear-armed U.S. ally into turmoil.
Bhutto gave a political speech Thursday in Rawalpindi to thousands of supporters in her campaign for the Jan. 8 parliamentary elections. She was shot in the neck and chest as she stood in the sunroof of her vehicle to greet supporters while leaving the rally. A suicide bomber then blew himself up, killing 20 other people, witnesses said.
"Ms. Bhutto came back from a very comfortable life abroad. She came back to fight these forces of extremism," said a tearful and distraught Farah Ispahani, part of Bhutto's political team. "She came back for this country. She was a real daughter of the soil of Pakistan."
"I hope she's remembered as the greatest daughter this country has ever produced and the first woman prime minister ever elected in the Muslim world," Ispahani said through tears.
FOOTNOTE: A very brave woman in the midst of turmoil. What a terrible, senseless loss.
1 comment:
What a tragic loss the world has suffered...Benazir Bhutto was a great leader among the people. -Easypz
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