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Deadly blasts mar Bhutto return

The wreckage of a car burns after two explosions in front of a truck carrying former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto in Karachi, Pakistan, late on Thursday. PHOTO: EPA

The midnight suicide attack that killed up to 136 people and shattered the homecoming of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto may have been the work of al-Qaeda and the Taliban, authorities said yesterday.

The attack bore the hallmarks of militants linked to pro-Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud and al-Qaeda, according to Ghulam Muhammad Mohtarem, the top security official in Sindh Province, where Karachi is located. He suggested that Bhutto's camp had gotten carried away celebrating her return after eight years in exile, and had not taken the need for security seriously.

"We were already fearing a strike from Mehsud and his local affiliates and this was conveyed to the [Bhutto's Pakistan's] People's Party but they got carried away by political exigencies instead of taking our concern seriously," Mohtarem said.

Bhutto survived unscathed, but the back-to-back explosions that went off near a truck in which she was riding turned her homecoming parade into a scene of carnage. She appeared dazed afterward and was escorted to her Karachi home.

President General Pervez Musharraf, the nation's leader, phoned Bhutto yesterday to express his shock and profound grief over the bombing his spokesman said.

There was no claim of responsibility for the attack.

Officials at six hospitals in Karachi reported 136 dead and around 250 wounded.

Karachi police chief Azhar Farooqi said that 113 people died, including 20 policemen, and that 300 people were wounded. It was not immediately possible to reconcile the differing death tolls.

On the eve of Bhutto's arrival, a provincial government official had cited intelligence reports that three suicide bombers linked to Mehsud were in Karachi. The local government had also warned Bhutto could be targeted by Taliban or al-Qaeda.

Mehsud's spokesman could not be reached for comment, but an alleged associate of the militant commander, Isa Khan, denied Taliban involvement.

Also see: Proteas tour in doubt after bomb blasts

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