Scores dead in Bhutto assassination attempt
Posted Fri Oct 19, 2007 5:44am AEST
Updated Fri Oct 19, 2007 11:24am AEST
A suspected suicide bomber has killed 115 people in an attack targeting former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto as she was driven through Karachi on her return from eight years in exile.
Officials said Ms Bhutto was unhurt after one of the deadliest attacks in her country's history, having left the truck that had been transporting her through streets crowded with hundreds of thousands of wellwishers.
"Ms Bhutto is safe and she has been taken to her residence," said Azhar Farooqui, a senior police officer in Karachi, after two explosions in quick succession rocked Bhutto's motorcade.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. Militants linked to Al Qaeda, angered by Ms Bhutto's support for the United States war on terrorism, had earlier this week threatened to assassinate her.
Dr Ejaz Ahmed, a police surgeon, told Reuters that 80 dead had been brought to three hospitals of the city. A Reuters reporter counted 35 bodies in another hospital.
Hospital officials said more than 200 people were wounded.
Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said many of the casualties were police officers travelling in two of the vans that formed part of Bhutto's security detail.
Reuters photographer Athar Hussain was slightly wounded.
He described "a ball of fire" bursting into the air and disappearing after the first blast. Mr Hussain and another photographer on a truck following Ms Bhutto's vehicle then rushed towards the site of the first blast.
"There was another blast and it was more powerful, then I knew it was a bomb attack."
He saw a television cameraman running in front of him killed.
"Bodies were scattered all over and wounded were crying for help. No one went near the bodies out of fear that there could be another blast," Mr Hussain said.
Rescuers scrambled to drag bodies from the twisted wreckage of blazing vehicles as flames lit up the night sky after two apparent explosions in Pakistan's most violent city.
"The blasts hit two police vehicles which were escorting the truck carrying Ms Bhutto. The target was the truck," Mr Farooqui told Reuters.
Rehman Malik, an aide to Ms Bhutto who was travelling with her on the truck, said the blasts went off while she was resting inside the vehicle.
Ms Bhutto herself seemed to expect some kind of attempt on her life as she set off on the last leg of her journey back to Pakistan on Thursday.
"They might try to assassinate me. I have prepared my family and my loved ones for any possibility," she told the pan-Arab Asharq al-Awsat newspaper.
Attack condemned
President Pervez Musharraf, in a statement issued by the state run news agency, said the attack represented "a conspiracy against democracy".
In Washington, the White House condemned the attack.
"The United States condemns the violent attack in Pakistan and mourns the loss of innocent life there," Gordon Johndroe, White House National Security Council spokesman said.
"Extremists will not be allowed to stop Pakistanis from selecting their representatives through an open and democratic process."
French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged Pakistani authorities to guarantee the security of politicians in the run up to elections.
Speaking from Dubai, Ms Bhutto's husband Asif Ali Zardari told ARYONE World Television: "I blame government for these blasts. It is the work of the intelligence agencies."
Intelligence reports suggested at least three jihadi groups linked to Al Qaeda and the Taliban were plotting suicide attacks, according to a provincial official.
Some 20,000 security personnel had been deployed to provide protection for the returning Ms Bhutto.
"She has an agreement with America. We will carry out attacks on Benazir Bhutto as we did on General Pervez Musharraf," Haji Omar, a Taliban commander in the Waziristan tribal region on the Afghan border, told Reuters by satellite telephone as Ms Bhutto headed for Pakistan.
Ms Bhutto, 54, had returned from self-imposed exile to lead her Pakistan People's Party into national elections meant to return the country to civilian rule.
For years Ms Bhutto had vowed to return to Pakistan to end military dictatorship, yet she came back as a potential ally for General Musharraf, the army chief who took power in a 1999 coup.
The United States is believed to have quietly encouraged their alliance to keep nuclear-armed Pakistan pro-Western and committed to fighting Al Qaeda and supporting NATO's efforts to stabilise Afghanistan.
Dressed in a green kameez, a loose tunic, her head covered by a white scarf, Ms Bhutto had earlier stood in plain view on top of her truck, ignoring police advice to stay behind its bullet proof glass, as it edged through crowds waving the red, black and green tricolour of her Pakistan People's Party (PPP).
Even before Friday's attack, Ms Bhutto's family history has been steeped in violence.
Her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Pakistan's first popularly elected prime minister, was overthrown and hanged, while her two brothers were killed in mysterious circumstances, one gunned down in Karachi, the other found dead in a French Riviera hotel.
Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence [ISI]
The Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence [ISI] was founded in 1948 by a British army officer, Maj Gen R Cawthome, then Deputy Chief of Staff in Pakistan Army. Field Marshal Ayub Khan, the president of Pakistan in the 1950s, expanded the role of ISI in safeguarding Pakistan's interests, monitoring opposition politicians, and sustaining military rule in Pakistan.
The ISI is tasked with collection of foreign and domestic intelligence; co-ordination of intelligence functions of the three military services; surveillance over its cadre, foreigners, the media, politically active segments of Pakistani society, diplomats of other countries accredited to Pakistan and Pakistani diplomats serving outside the country; the interception and monitoring of communications; and the conduct of covert offensive operations.
CDirectorate for Inter-Services Intelligence [ISI]
The Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence [ISI] was founded in 1948 by a British army officer, Maj Gen R Cawthome, then Deputy Chief of Staff in Pakistan Army. Field Marshal Ayub Khan, the president of Pakistan in the 1950s, expanded the role of ISI in safeguarding Pakistan's interests, monitoring opposition politicians, and sustaining military rule in Pakistan.
The ISI is tasked with collection of foreign and domestic intelligence; co-ordination of intelligence functions of the three military services; surveillance over its cadre, foreigners, the media, politically active segments of Pakistani society, diplomats of other countries accredited to Pakistan and Pakistani diplomats serving outside the country; the interception and monitoring of communications; and the conduct of covert offensive operations.
Critics of the ISI say that it has become a state within a state, answerable neither to the leadership of the army, nor to the President or the Prime Minister. The result is there has been no real supervision of the ISI, and corruption, narcotics, and big money have all come into play, further complicating the political scenario. Drug money was used by ISI to finance not only the Afghanistan war, but also the ongoing proxy war against India in Kashmir and Northeast India.
Pakistan's military leader, General Pervez Musharraf, has attempted to rein in the ISI. Since September 11th, Islamic fundamentalists have been purged from leadership positions. This includes then-ISI head Lieutenant General Mahmood Ahmed, who was replaced in October 2001 by Lieutenant General Ehsanul Haq.
Additional reforms of the ISI have been made. Most notable was the decision to disband the Kashmir and Afghanistan units. Both these groups have promoted Islamic fundamentalist militancy throughout South Asia. Some officials have been forced to retire and others have been transferred back to the military. Intelligence experts have estimated that these moves would slash the size of the ISI by close to 40%.
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