Former Pakistani PM Benazir Bhutto Receives Rude Welcome
In the form of two explosions occurring along a motorcade carrying former Pakistani PM Bhutto. Former PM Bhutto was not hurt, but several people along and in the motorcade were.
Two blasts wounded several supporters of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto as she made a triumphant procession through Karachi hours after returning home from eight years in self-imposed exile, police said on Friday.
Television channels said Bhutto was safe and had disembarked a truck that had been transporting her through roads thronged by hundreds of thousands of people on her way to a homecoming rally near the tomb of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan.
Militants linked to al Qaeda, angered by Bhutto's support for the United States war on terrorism, had threatened to assassinate her.
Previous PM Bhutto news.
Benazir Bhutto made a dramatic return to Pakistan on Thursday, ending eight years of exile to reclaim a share of power with the country's U.S.-backed military leader. More than 150,000 jubilant supporters gathered to greet her amid massive security.
Bhutto, who is expected to seek the premiership for an unprecedented third time and partner in ruling Pakistan with U.S.-backed President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, was in tears as she descended the steps of a commercial flight that brought her from Dubai to Karachi, where jubilant crowds of flag-waving, drum-thumping supporters waited to give her a rousing welcome.
"I counted the hours, I counted the minutes and the seconds, just to see this land, to see the grass, to see the sky. I feel so emotionally overwhelmed," Bhutto, who wore a white headscarf and clutched prayer beads in her right hand, told The Associated Press.
"And I hope that I can live up to the great expectations which people here have," she said.
She said she was fighting for democracy and to help this nuclear-armed country of 160 million people defeat the extremism that gave it the reputation as a hotbed of international terrorism.
***UPDATE 10/19/07 1:05AM***
Reports are that about 126 people were killed in the blasts.
A suicide bombing in a crowd welcoming former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto killed up to 126 people Thursday night, shattering her celebratory procession through Pakistan's biggest city after eight years in exile.
Two explosions—a grenade followed by a suicide blast—struck near a truck carrying Bhutto, but police and officials of her party said she was not injured and was hurried to her house. An Associated Press photo showed a dazed-looking Bhutto being helped away.
Officials at six hospitals reported 126 dead and 248 wounded. Police chief Azhar Farooqi put the death toll at 113, including 20 police, with 300 people wounded. It was not immediately possible to reconcile the differences. But it was believed to be the deadliest bomb attack in Pakistan's history.
