RTE : Seven die in Pakistan market blast

Seven die in Pakistan market blast

October 20, 2007

Seven people have been killed and 15 others injured in a market bomb blast in the Baluchistan province of Pakistan.

The blast happened as passengers were waiting at a mini-van stand in the main market in Dera Bugti town in the southwestern province.

The attack comes after 138 people were killed in a suicide bombing targeting former prime minister Benazir Bhutto during her homecoming parade in the southern port city of Karachi on Thursday.

Pakistan is investigating possible suspects given by Ms Bhutto. She sent President Pervez Musharraf the names of three people she accuses of involvement in the major blast.

Sources in her Pakistan People's Party said they included senior army officials but would not give further details.

Ms Bhutto says she had received a prior warning about members of al-Qaeda, Pakistani and Afghan Taliban and a Karachi-based militant group who may plan to attack her.

She has also accused Islamist supporters of late military ruler Mohammed Zia ul-Haq of being behind the blasts. He overthrew Ms Bhutto's father, prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, in 1977 and had him hanged two years later.

Ms Bhutto has pledged to stay in Pakistan to combat militancy and fight general elections in January, seen as a key step to returning the Islamic republic of some 160 million people to civilian rule.

But the attack on her motorcade, the worst suicide bombing in Pakistan's history, has cast doubt over her previous plans to tour the country whipping up support ahead of the polls.

Her party said she would soon visit the tomb of her father in her family's ancestral village of Larkana, deep in southern Sindh province.

The explosions - a grenade followed by a suicide blast - came hours after she flew home for the first time since 1999.

Ms Bhutto returned from self-imposed exile after Mr Musharraf dropped corruption charges against her in the hope her popularity could shore up his grip on power.