A suspected suicide bomber killed at least 115 people yesterday in an attack targeting a vehicle carrying former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto through Karachi on her return from eight years in exile.
Officials said Bhutto was unhurt after one of the deadliest blasts 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.
Militants linked to al-Qaeda, angered by 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.
An Interior Ministry spokesman said 100 people were wounded.
Twisted wreckage
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," Farooqui told Reuters.
Rehman Malik, an aide to Bhutto who was travelling with her on the truck, said the blasts went off while she was resting inside the vehicle.
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.
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