Former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto Assassinated 
Friday, December 28th, 2007

Yesterday, former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated.  Bhutto was shot twice, just a few yards from where the country's first prime minister, Liaqat Ali Khan, was assassinated in 1951.  Her attacker fired several bullets at her while she was leaving a political rally in Rawalpindi, and then exploded with a suicide bomb that killed at least 20 of her followers.

She was campaigning for an election that was set for Pakistan for January 8th, which now may be posponed.  Tensions are hot in Pakistan, with small riots erupting after the shooting; political analysts speculate that how Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, handles the next several days may be crucial.

Miss Bhutton was praised by much of Pakistan for her courage in the face of terrorism.  In her final political address - just a few minutes before her death - she said, "I put my life in danger and come here because I feel this country is in danger.  People are worried.  We will bring the country out of this crisis."

After she was killed, Nawaz Sharif, the country's other main opposition leader, announced his party's withdrawal from the upcoming elections.  He visited the hospital where she was pronounced dead, and said he would take up her position as the main opposition leader of Musharraf.

"Free elections are not possible in the presence of Musharraf," Sharif said yesterday, after the assassination.  "Musharraf is the root cause of all problems."

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