Benazir Bhutto killed in a presumed suicide attack

Pakistani former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has been killed in a presumed suicide attack.

News of her death was confirmed by a military spokesman and members of her Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). Ms Bhutto had just addressed an election rally in Rawalpindi when gunfire and an explosion occurred.

More than 30 other people were dead in the attack and several more were injured. Ms Bhutto had twice been the country’s prime minister. She had been campaigning ahead of elections due in January.

Ms Bhutto was key to her party, she was the focus of her party and she was a major political player amongst all those fighting for seats in the forthcoming elections, our correspondent adds.

Scene of grief
The explosion occurred close to an entrance gate of the park in Rawalpindi where Ms Bhutto had been speaking.

Scene from the blast
The blast caused carnage

Wasif Ali Khan, a member of the PPP who was at Rawalpindi General Hospital, said she died at 1816 (1316 GMT).

Some broke the glass door at the main entrance to the emergency unit as others wept.

A man with a PPP flag tied around his head could be seen beating his chest, the agency adds.

An interior ministry spokesman, Javed Cheema, was quoted as saying by AFP that she may have been killed by pellets packed into the suicide bomber’s vest.

However, AP quoted a PPP security adviser as saying she was shot in the neck and chest as she got into her vehicle, before the gunman blew himself up.

Among the mourners at the hospital was Nawaz Sharif, also a former prime minister and opposition leader.