The Pakistan government blamed Islamist militants for twin blasts early on Friday that killed 133 people as opposition leader Benazir Bhutto drove through masses of supporters in Karachi.
Bhutto, travelling in a truck reinforced to withstand bomb attacks, was unhurt by the deadliest bomb attack in her country’s violent history.
The attack underscored the turbulence which lay in store for Pakistan ahead of an election due by January, but it was unclear how the assassination attempt might affect a possible power-sharing deal between Bhutto and President Pervez Musharraf.
Army chief General Musharraf expressed his condolences with his potential ally by telephone from Islamabad and they both ”expressed their unflinching resolve to fight the scourge of extremism and terrorism”, the president’s spokesperson Rashid Quereshi said. The grenade and suicide attack struck Bhutto’s motorcade as it edged through hundreds of thousands of well-wishers who had stayed up late into the night to welcome the two-time prime minister back to Pakistan after years of self-imposed exile.
”Those people who are doing this, they want to create terror, and election campaigns and rallies are for them targets,” said Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, who narrowly escaped a suicide attack last April.
There was no claim of responsibility. But police were investigating whether the attack had links to tribal regions bordering Afghanistan which have become hotbeds of support for al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
”Definitely, it is the work of the militants and terrorists,” Interior Ministry spokesperson Javed Iqbal Cheema said.
The ministry said 133 people had been killed and 290 wounded, in what was the second most deadly suicide bombing of 2007, and most deadly outside a war-zone.
Distrust
The attack took place shortly after midnight, around 10 hours after Bhutto arrived from Dubai.
”The first blast was caused by a hand grenade. The second was the suicide attack,” said Manzoor Mughal, a senior police official. ”The attacker ran into the crowd and blew himself up.”
Mughal said the head of the suspected bomber had been found, and it was estimated he had 15kg to 20kg of explosives strapped to his body. Typically, the upward force from a blast blows off the head an attacker.
Militants linked to al-Qaeda, angered by Bhutto’s support for the US war on terrorism, had this week threatened to assassinate her, and officials said there were intelligence reports of plots by three separate groups.
Bhutto’s husband, Asif Ali Zardari, accused Pakistani intelligence agencies of involvement in the attack on his wife, a suspicion shared by many Pakistanis.
Bhutto (54) has plenty of enemies in Pakistan with links to the country’s security apparatus and jihadi groups, going back to her two stints in power more than a decade ago.
The scale of Thursday’s reception for Bhutto proved she has the mass appeal no other leader can muster despite being out of power for 10 years, and out of Pakistan for eight.
Bhutto’s re-entry to the political scene was welcomed by investors who saw her as a force for democracy and stability, who would help Pakistan keep consistent economic policies.
The Karachi share index dipped about 1% in early trade in reaction to the attack, but recovered to barely changed at 14 787,55 points, just short of life highs and showing a gain of almost 47% since the start of the year.
Condemnation
Washington has 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.
The United States, the European Union, and other allies condemned the attack along with neighbours India and Iran.
Most shops in Karachi stayed shut on Friday, schools were closed, there were no buses and few taxis, and many people stayed at home following the carnage overnight.
Families and friends of the blast victims started to bury their dead later on Friday. Funerals were held for two of six policemen killed in the blast.
”Father don’t go away, don’t go take my father away,” Zeeshan the nine-year-old son of Inspector Shahab-ud-din cried as his father’s coffin was lowered into the ground.
”Allah won’t spare them. They’re our enemies, they’re enemies of Islam,” the boy’s grandfather, Abdul Rahim, said through his tears.
Suicide and roadside bomb attacks have multiplied since troops stormed Islamabad’s Red Mosque to crush an armed student movement in July. Two bomb blasts struck the north-western cities of Peshawar and Dera Ismail Khan on Friday, wounding two people. – Reuters