Bhutto Assassinated

[juneau]

Sad day for Pakistan.

Benazir Bhutto killed in attack
Benazir Bhutto at the rally on 27 December 2007

Pakistani former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has been assassinated in a suicide attack.

Ms Bhutto had just addressed an election rally in Rawalpindi when she was shot in the neck by a gunman who then set off a bomb.

At least 16 other people died in the attack and several more were injured.

President Pervez Musharraf condemned the killing and urged people to remain calm so that the "nefarious designs of terrorists can be defeated."

There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attack.

Ms Bhutto, leader of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), had twice been the country's prime minister and had been campaigning ahead of elections due in January.

It was the second suicide attack against her in recent months and came amid a wave of bombings targeting security and government officials.

Nawaz Sharif, also a former prime minister and a political rival, said her death was a tragedy for "the entire nation".

"It is not a sad day, it is [the] darkest, gloomiest day in the history of this country," he said, speaking at the hospital where she was taken.

The United Nations Security Council is to meet for emergency consultations shortly to discuss the situation in Pakistan after the killing.

[-Bar]

Yeah I read some articles on CNN about an hour ago... had no less then 8 reports on it. Sadly it is not only a bad day for Pakistan but for the US as well.

[FieryDragon]

Man that sucks. I sure hope that the previous Prime Minister wasn't the one who ordered it. I'm just thinking aloud! Don't mind me...I've seen too many movies! Power makes people crazy!

[BlackArrow]

What???? That just plain out stinks. Some one help that country.

[Mobojo]

My jaw dropped when I saw that on MSN.

[CarbonFire]

I'm afraid things are only going to get much, MUCH worse after this. I would imagine there is a high potential for a coup now....which is scary considering they've got nuke capability

[LIMEY]

Sadly Pakistan is one of the more stable countries in the region!

[Rand{CLR}]

Yeah I read some articles on CNN about an hour ago... had no less then 8 reports on it. Sadly it is not only a bad day for Pakistan but for the US as well.

+1. This has enormous potential to spiral out of control very, very quickly.

-Rand

[Road_Ratt]

As if things weren't already bad enough over there, yes very sad indeed.

[thedeadlyassassin]

heard bush is also condemned

[Rand{CLR}]

heard bush is also condemned

Is, or has? Either way, it's to be expected.

-Rand

[TheSilentAssassin]

Yeah I read some articles on CNN about an hour ago... had no less then 8 reports on it. Sadly it is not only a bad day for Pakistan but for the US as well.

+1. This has enormous potential to spiral out of control very, very quickly.

-Rand

This is not good...If we loose Pakistan as an ally, they might succome to Taliban or Al-Queda influence. India and Israel would be the only real allies left I think. We just got to make sure the terrorists do not gain nuclear capability. If they do, this could mean the begginning of a new World War. Tensions increasing with Iran, Pakistan, Syria, possibly Russia itself...things are not looking good.

Where is Jack Bauer when we need him? LOL

[-Bar]

If the country goes into a state of civil war we will probably ally with the true government with the intent to protect the nuclear weapons and hopefully remove them.

[Rand{CLR}]

Kyler, you've got it a bit wrong. Pakistan isn't really an ally in truth, more like an ally of convenience. Given the choice, neither one of us would deal much with the other. India's not a full ally yet either, but we're making inroads with them as a buffer and to give us some help against China. If we're left as Israel as our "only" ally, we're in trouble. We're still very close to the other Anglo nations, and much of Europe, as starters.

The new world war began September 11, 2001. It's just a war of phases, and we're in a period where we're close to transitioning from the first phase, the War on Terror, into the next phase. And as an aside, tensions with Russia are already high. They're far more dangerous now than they've been at any point since the mid 80s.

Bar, I wouldn't be surprised (in fact, if the opposite were true, I would be shocked) to find out that our special forces would simply go into Pakistan and secure the nukes we know how to find ourselves if the country devolves into civil war. That nation is too unstable to allow them to keep the arms if they fall that far. We may give Musharif a bit of time, but if it looks like he's about to lose control, we're probably going in.

-Rand

[TheSilentAssassin]

Well if something else goes wrong in Pakistan, like civil war, things are going to go bad quickly.