By Emal Pashtunyar
RAWALPINDI, PAKISTAN _ Pakistan's two-term prime minister and the first woman premier of a Muslim country Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in the city of Rawalpindi, located just 22 kilometres from Pakistan's capital Islamabad, Thursday evening.
There was a huge explosion, possibly a suicide attack, and shooting soon after the slain leader stepped into her car after an election campaign. The general elections in Pakistan are scheduled to be held on Jan. 8.
Bhutto was shot in the neck and head and was immediately sent to a nearby hospital but a little later was pronounced dead, her Pakistan People's Party ( PPP) spokesman Farhatullah Babar told journalists.
As many as 20 more people, including her party's leaders and workers, were also killed while about 50 people suffered injuries in the shooting and bomb blast. Identities of those killed and injured are yet to be ascertained, but sources said Benazir's close aides Nahid Khan, Sherry Rehman and Rehman Malik were also among the injured.
The attack was the second on her within two months. Earlier, over 100 people were killed and more than 200 injured as a suicide bomb blew up during a mammoth rally in Pakistan's port city of Karachi last October.
The people had gathered to welcome Bhutto, the most popular Pakistan political leader, on her arrival in Pakistan after the end of her seven-year self-exile in Dubai.
Since her arrival in Pakistan, Bhutto has visited various cities ignoring the warnings by security agencies about threats to her life from extremists here.
Pre-election polls revealed that Benazir's PPP will win maximum seats during the upcoming general elections. However, a pall has been drawn on the elections after the demise of Benazir Bhutto.
Born in 1953 in Sindh province of Pakistan, Bhutto graduated from Howard University. Her father, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, was executed by military dictator Gen. Ziaul Haq.
Benazir Bhutto became the first woman prime minister of a Muslim country as her party won maximum seats of the national assembly in the 1988 elections. However, her government was overthrown by then president Ghulam Ishaq Khan two years later.
She was again elected as prime minister in 1993 and again her party's government was dissolved by another president Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari. She left the country after her confrontation with then prime minister and her archrival Nawaz Sharif in 1999. She returned to Pakistan ending her more than seven-year self-exile in October.
Condemning Benazir Bhutto's death, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf called on the people of his country to remain calm. He said his government would continue struggle against terrorists till their defeat.
Other leaders, including Nawaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League, Asfandyar Wali Khan of the Awami National Party, Qazi Hussain Ahmad of the Jamate Islami and Maulana Fazlur Rahman of the Jamiat Ulemae Islam also expressed grief and sorrow over Benazir Bhutto's assassination.
Her killing was also condemned by the United States, Britain, Russia, France and Afghanistan.