Bhutto's return shattered by bombing

136 killed in suicide attack; al-Qaida, Taliban links suspected, official says

By Ashraf Khan | The Associated Press

3:10 PM EDT, October 19, 2007

KARACHI, Pakistan - Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, her return from exile shattered by a suicide attack that killed up to 136 people, blamed militants today for trying to kill her and said she would not "surrender our great nation" to them.

She said she had prior warning that Taliban and al-Qaida suicide squads would try to kill her upon her return, and that she alerted President Gen. Pervez Musharraf in an Oct. 16 letter. She said there were two attackers in the deadly bombing; her security guards, she said, found a third man armed with a pistol and another with a suicide vest.

"There was one suicide squad from the Taliban elements, one suicide squad from al-Qaida, one suicide squad from Pakistani Taliban and a fourth group, I believe, from Karachi," she in a news conference.

Baitullah Mehsud, a militant leader on the unstable Afghan border, threatened this month to meet Bhutto's return to Pakistan with suicide attacks, according to local media reports. An associate of Mehsud, however, denied Taliban involvement.

Bhutto said her guards prevented more carnage.

"They stood their ground, and they stood all around the truck, and they refused to let the suicide bomber -- the second suicide bomber -- get near the truck," she said.

Bhutto blamed militants for the attack, which drew international condemnation.

"We believe democracy alone can save Pakistan from disintegration and a militant takeover," she told a news conference. "We are prepared to risk our lives and we are prepared to risk our liberty, but we are not prepared to surrender our great nation to the militants."

She did not blame the government, but said it was suspicious that streetlights failed after sunset Thursday when her convoy was inching its way through the streets of Karachi. She said the phones were down, making it difficult to have the lights restored.

"I'm not accusing the government but certain individuals who abuse their positions and powers," she said. "We were scanning the crowd with the floodlights, but it was difficult to scan the crowds because there was so much darkness."

In a separate interview with Paris Match, Bhutto blamed "dignitaries" linked to Gen. Zia-ul Haq, the Pakistani leader who jailed her several times before his death in a mysterious plane crash in 1988.

"We must purge these elements that are still present in our secret services. A good number of them retired and then were rehired. They have a lot of power today. For them, I represent a danger: if I return democracy to the country, they will lose their influence," she said in the interview.

Bhutto claimed the next attack against her would target her homes in Karachi and her hometown of Larkana, using attackers posing as supporters of a rival political faction.

She said she was confident the government would take measures to prevent it.

Bhutto said militants had "gained strength" but the deteriorating security situation in Pakistan should not delay elections slated for January.

"We believe democracy alone can save Pakistan from disintegration and a militant takeover," Bhutto said.

Pakistan's Information Minister Mohammed Ali Durrani said parliamentary elections would go ahead as planned, despite the attack on Bhutto.

"We reiterate our confidence that, God willing, the political process in the country will continue," Durrani told reporters. "Elections will be held on time."

Bhutto's procession was creeping toward the center of Karachi for 10 hours, as supporters thronged her truck, when a small explosion erupted near the front of the vehicle. That was quickly followed by a larger blast, destroying two escorting police vans.

The attacker's head was found nearby and taken to a forensic lab to try to identify him, Manzur Mughal, the Karachi police officer in charge of the investigation, told the Associated Press.