Bhutto Rally Hit By Suicide Bomber Again (Update: Bhutto Dead)
UPDATE III: The Washington Post reports that an assassin shot Bhutto before blowing himself up and killing more people:
Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday at a political rally, two months after she returned from eight years of exile to attempt a political comeback, officials said.Bhutto was shot at close range as she was leaving the rally in this garrison city south of Islamabad, aides said. Immediately after the shooting, a suicide bomber detonated explosives near Bhutto's car, killing at least 15 other people.
Bhutto was rushed to a hospital with extensive wounds to her torso, her supporters said. Shortly after she arrived at the hospital, an official came out of the building and told a crowd of supporters Bhutto was dead.
Snipers also killed four people attending a rally for Nawaz Sharif in Rawalpindi. It looks as though the radical Islamists made their statement today.
UPDATE II: AFP now reports that the Interior Ministry has announced her death.
UPDATE AND BUMP: AFP reports that Benazir Bhutto got injured in the attack and has been taken to a hospital. CQ reader Frans Jansen says Sky News reports that she was killed. More as this develops.
Original post follows ...
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Radical Islamists in Pakistan attacked a political rally held by Benazir Bhutto for the second time since her return. A suicide bomber killed at least 15 people and injured many more just after the former Prime Minister concluded her remarks. Many of the dead and injured appear to be policemen:
A suicide blast has killed around 15 people in Rawalpindi, moments after opposition leader Benazir Bhutto addressed supporters in the city.Ms Bhutto, the former Pakistani prime minister, had just left the political rally where the device exploded. She is safe and unhurt, according to police.
More than a dozen bodies are scattered across the site, according to witnesses. Some of the dead are thought to have been police officers.
This attack did not have the same impact as the one in October in Karachi. In that case, the murderers boob-trapped a baby that someone tried to hand to Bhutto. That attempt failed as she descended back into her armored vehicle for a rest before she saw the child, but the blast killed 130 people around the vehicle.
The Islamists appear to fear Bhutto more than any other potential opposition. As of yet, no one has targeted Nawaz Sharif, possibly because he cannot run for office at the moment, even though he leads one of the political parties. They have not tried again to assassinate Pervez Musharraf either, but Musharraf has no reason to give speeches in parks. Bhutto makes the easiest target for the lunatics, and they're apparently going to keep trying to kill her until they succeed or until they run out of suicidal volunteers.
They have more motive with Bhutto than other candidates, too. Bhutto has said that she would favor allowing the US and NATO to conduct operations in Waziristan and the North West Frontier Province to clear out the Taliban and al-Qaeda. While she would have only limited ability to employ that strategy -- that seems clearly the provenance of Musharraf, who doesn't share her enthusiasm for the idea -- the radical Islamists want to take no chances. They have nowhere else to run if the US and Pakistan start cooperating to defeat them.
Pakistan goes to the polls on January 8. We will likely see more such attempts on Bhutto, with innocent Muslims getting shredded by the scores while the Islamists keep missing their target. They seem to think that a hearts-and-minds campaign involves strewing both all over the landscape.
Posted by Ed Morrissey on December 27, 2007 7:10 AM | Comments () | TrackBacks (2)
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