Scores Dead As Suicide Bomber Tries to Blow Up Benazir Bhutto

Oct 19, 06:10 PM

Current Headlines: AT LEAST 89 Pakistanis were feared dead last night after their former premier Benazir Bhutto escaped assassination within hours of returning to the country.

Miss Bhutto, 54, was uninjured when bombs went off just feet from the truck carrying her in a motorcade from Karachi airport to a homecoming rally late last night.

The blasts, which were believed to be suicide attacks, shattered the windows in her vehicle and set a police escort car on fire.

Miss Bhutto had returned from eight years of exile despite threats from Islamic extremists enraged by her support for the U.S.- led war on terrorism.

Police chief Azhar Farooqi said that she was rushed from the area under contingency plans.

'She was evacuated very safely and is now in Bilawal House,' he added, referring to Miss Bhutto's home in Karachi.

Earlier more than 150,000 jubilant supporters had surrounded the convoy carrying Miss Bhutto from the airport.

The ex-prime minister kissed the Koran as she stepped down from her flight from Dubai and said: 'I am thankful to God. I am very happy that I'm back in my country and I was dreaming of this day.

'I counted the hours, the minutes and the seconds just to see this land, sky and grass.' At the airport she brushed aside the danger and stood in plain view on the truck - designed to withstand a blast - as it edged through supporters.

She ignored police advice to keep behind its bullet-proof glass.

Her dramatic return - followed by the suspected suicide bomb attacks - cranks up the tension in what is already a hugely volatile political scene.

For years Miss Bhutto had vowed to return to end the military dictatorship, but now she is being seen as a potential ally for President Pervez Musharraf, the army chief who took power in a 1999 coup.

Oxford-educated Miss Bhutto, who has described Pakistan as being at a crossroads between democracy and dictatorship, hopes her popularity will boost her People's Party in January's elections, which should return the country to civilian rule. She said she was fighting for democracy and to help defeat the extremism that gave Pakistan the reputation as a hotbed of international terrorism.

'That's not the real image of Pakistan,' she said at the airport.

'The people that you see outside are the real image of Pakistan.

These are the decent and hardworking middleclasses and working classes of Pakistan who want to be empowered so they can build a moderate, modern nation.' Yesterday's welcoming crowds in Karachi, which has long been the powerbase of Miss Bhutto's People's Party, were so big that her convoy took three hours to cover the 500 yards to the airport gate.

Her supporters ranged from members of minority Christian and Hindu communities to Baluch tribesmen with flowing white turbans.

Men banged drums, shook maracas and performed traditional dances along her route to the tomb of Pakistan's founding father, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, where she planned to make a speech.

Crowds chanted 'Prime Minister Benazir!', showered her with flowers, and waved her party's red, black and green flags as her truck inched forward.

More than 20,000 security personnel are guarding her.

Speaking before her homecoming, Miss Bhutto, who left her two daughters and husband in Dubai, said: 'I am not scared. I am thinking of my mission.' Intelligence reports suggested at least three jihadi groups linked to Al Qaeda and the Taliban have been plotting suicide attacks.

'She has an agreement with America. We will carry out attacks on Benazir Bhutto as we did on Musharraf,' said Haji Omar, a Taliban commander in Waziristan on the Afghan border.

The U.S. is believed to have encouraged an alliance between Mr Musharraf and Miss Bhutto to keep nucleararmed Pakistan pro-Western and committed to fighting Al Qaeda.

Mr Musharraf, whose popularity has plunged recently, has granted an amnesty to protect Miss Bhutto from corruption charges.

But his right to do so is being challenged in the Supreme Court and he has been accused of courting Miss Bhutto to save his political career..

'I am not scared'

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