Benazir Bhutto assassinated

7:28 PM 12/27/2007

PPP leader Benazir Bhutto has been shot dead following a suicide attack on her rally in Rawalpindi.

Pakistan interior ministry had earlier declared a high alert across the country post the attacks that marred rallies of both main opposition leaders, Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto.

The blast occured minutes after Benazir Bhutto finished her speech.

''We are traumatised. People all over are crying. Everyone is saying that this Army has killed Benazir. There is going to be more bloodshed. Will the world now finally wake up? said a distraught Asma Jehangir, Chairperson, Pak Human Rights Commission.

According to reports, 20 people have been killed and 42 others injured in the attack.

PPP Information Secretary Sherry Rehman has also been injured in the attack and taken to a hospital.

National and provincial assembly elections in Pakistan are due on January 8.

In October some 130 people were killed in an attack on Bhutto's cavalcade when she returned to the country.

It was one of the worst incidents of violence in a year of deteriorating security in Pakistan.