STORM2K

Benazir Bhutto 'wounded' in blast
A suspected suicide attack at a rally of Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) has left at least 15 people dead, police say.

A PPP spokesman has told the BBC that Ms Bhutto was injured. It is not clear how badly. She had just addressed the rally in the town of Rawalpindi.

National and provincial assembly elections are due on 8 January.

In October some 130 people were killed in an attack on Ms Bhutto's cavalcade when she returned to the country.

It was one of the worst incidents of violence in a year of deteriorating security in Pakistan.

'Deafening sound'

Thursday's blast happened at one of the entrance gates to the Liaquat Bagh park in Rawalpindi.

PPP spokesman Farahtullah Babar said Ms Bhutto was only some 50 metres away when the bomb exploded, the Associated Press news agency reports. "She had just crossed the gate when we heard a deafening sound."

Mr Babar said that Ms Bhutto was safe, but subsequently PPP party members have said that Ms Bhutto was injured in the blast and taken to hospital.

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

When Ms Bhutto returned to Pakistan in October, her cavalcade was hit by a double suicide attack that left some 130 dead.

The PPP has the largest support in the country.

Earlier on Thursday at least four people were killed ahead of an election rally that Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was preparing to attend close to Rawalpindi.

Islam is as Islam does.

Now reported dead.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/1 ... index.html

She has died.Sad developments in that country.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benazir_Bhutto

Already her dead is in Wikipedia. A tragedy for a country that seems to be falling apart.

They have nuclear weapons, and the ISI reportedly has al Qaeda and Taliban sympathizers in its ranks.


Never a good combination.

Ed Mahmoud wrote:They have nuclear weapons, and the ISI reportedly has al Qaeda and Taliban sympathizers in its ranks.


Never a good combination.

Add to that the fact that India could use any civil disorder to invade, and you have the makings of a not-very-good start to 08.

The previous post is the opinion of Cryomaniac, and is not based on any information, political or otherwise, it should not be used for any reason

Not a very surprising development.. After the failed attempt on her life in October you knew another attempt would happen. More instability to a a region teetering on the edge .

India is not about to use this opportunity to invade Pakistan. The biggest concern in the short-term is the internal strife that is going to occur.

Expect Musharraf to impose martial law quickly and to weave a heavy hand. For the time being we have no choice but to support him, though I'll be curious to hear the wording that Bush uses.

Not surprised by this at all..

But very sad.

That's horrible! RIP Benazir Bhutto.

she was a very brave woman! On a Sept 26 interview on cnn with Wolf Blitzer, she addressed this very unstable environment and in fact her dad even died in a suicide attack too, she said it was the risk that she was willing to take for her country. Well spoken , very precise as to what she was all about and in no uncertain terms was she scared of what could have happened.
Sadly, it has happened and Pakistan is in turmoil. Just terrible.

-justin-

Stratosphere747 wrote:India is not about to use this opportunity to invade Pakistan. The biggest concern in the short-term is the internal strife that is going to occur.

As I said, there exists a small possibility that they (India) will try to exploit the chaos, maybe not in such an obvious way as an invasion, but maybe something more subtle.

Expect Musharraf to impose martial law quickly and to weave a heavy hand. For the time being we have no choice but to support him, though I'll be curious to hear the wording that Bush uses.

Martial law is all well and good, except that Musharraf wont lift it in a hurry when things calm down. As for the western reaction, who knows.

Some of the pictures are from the October 18 attack.

Blitzer Sent Email To Be Read Only In The Event Bhutto Was Assassinated

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/cnn ... _73815.asp

No surprise here. Sadly Pakistan is an increasingly unstable, and violent, nation. A place in which men like Osama Bin Laden and Ayman Al Zawahiri would likely win a free election (if allowed to stand) with a handy majority. As things currently stand the country posses a great threat to World security, and likely will for the foreseeable future.

Hybridstorm_November2001 wrote:No surprise here. Sadly Pakistan is an increasingly unstable, and violent, nation. A place in which men like Osama Bin Laden and Ayman Al Zawahiri would likely win a free election (if allowed to stand) with a handy majority. As things currently stand the country posses a great threat to World security, and likely will for the foreseeable future.

I'd like to see something to back up your statements. The extremists are still a huge minority in Pakistan by all the analysis I read. By all accounts Bhutto would have won the election which would have been far more frightening to the likes of Osama.

mf_dolphin wrote:

Hybridstorm_November2001 wrote:No surprise here. Sadly Pakistan is an increasingly unstable, and violent, nation. A place in which men like Osama Bin Laden and Ayman Al Zawahiri would likely win a free election (if allowed to stand) with a handy majority. As things currently stand the country posses a great threat to World security, and likely will for the foreseeable future.

I'd like to see something to back up your statements. The extremists are still a huge minority in Pakistan by all the analysis I read. By all accounts Bhutto would have won the election which would have been far more frightening to the likes of Osama.

They might not win across Pakistan but certainly in the NWFP bordering Afghanistan they would.

That's a far cry from Hybridstorm's statement.

Ed Mahmoud wrote:Islam is as Islam does.

Yes. All assassinations are done by Muslims.