Winnipeg Sun : Blasts aimed at returning ex-PM Bhutto kill at least 126, injure dozens

Blasts aimed at returning ex-PM Bhutto kill at least 126, injure dozens

By MATTHEW PENNINGTON AND PAISLEY DODDS, AP | October 19, 2007

KARACHI -- A suicide bombing in a massive crowd welcoming former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto killed 126 people yesterday, shattering her celebratory procession through the country's biggest city after eight years in exile.

Two explosions struck near a truck carrying Bhutto, but police and officials of her party said she was not injured and was hurried to her house. Authorities say at least 248 people were wounded.

Bhutto flew home to lead her Pakistan People's Party in January parliamentary elections, drawing cheers from supporters massed in a sea of the party's red, green and black flags. The police chief said 150,000 were in the streets, while other onlookers estimated twice that.

The throngs reflected Bhutto's enduring political clout, but she has made enemies of Islamic militants by taking a pro-U.S. line and negotiating a possible political alliance with Pakistan's military ruler, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

Authorities urged her to use a helicopter to reduce the risk of attack amid threats from extremists sympathetic to the Taliban and al-Qaida, but she brushed off the concerns.

"I am not scared. I am thinking of my mission," she told reporters on the plane from Dubai. "This is a movement for democracy because we are under threat from extremists and militants."

Last month, she had told CNN she realized she was a target. Islamic militants, she said, "don't believe in women governing nations, so they will try to plot against me, but these are risks that must be taken. I'm prepared to take them."

Leaving the airport, Bhutto refused to use a bulletproof glass cubicle that had been built atop the truck taking her to the tomb of Pakistan's founding father, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, to give a speech.

Her procession had been creeping toward the centre of Karachi for 10 hours, when a small explosion erupted near the front of the vehicle. That was quickly followed by a larger blast just metres from the truck, setting an escorting police van on fire.