by Hamlet Pericles

Created on: December 30, 2007   Last Updated: November 29, 2009

The two-time former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's life was cut short by an assassin on Thursday, December 27, 2007, at a campaign rally in Rawalpindi.

Initially, it was reported on Thursday that Bhutto was killed by two bullet wounds, one to the neck and one to the chest - causing a huge amount of blood loss.

However, officials changed their reports a day after, claiming that she was killed when her head slammed - causing a skull fracture - against the sunroof of her armored vehicle when the suicide bomber detonated an explosion that also killed 20 plus bystanders.

Devastated by the deadly attack, her supporters vociferously wept and screamed at the scene. One man shown on television with tattered clothes, teary-eyed, stood with his hands up to the sky and simply inquired, "why!" Wide-ranging mourners share his sentiment and question why: why would a terrorist take the life of a woman who goal was to bring democracy to a shaky country like Pakistan?

As many shake their heads in disgust and leaders denounce the assassination, Bhutto's supporters went on the attack - burning tires, burning down stores, and destroying anything in sight.

Sometime Friday, Bhutto was laid to rest in her family's mausoleum next to her father (Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was also an ex-prime minister and killed by a military dictatorship via hanging) while thousands of mourners sobbed and shouted her name.

With chaos occurring, Pakistan's interior minister told The Associated Press on Friday that the assassination was carried out by Al-Qaida and Taliban, claiming to have evidence (via intelligence intercept) of a recording with the voice of militant leader Baitullah Mehsud congratulating his people for a job well done.

Saturday morning, a spokesman for Mehsud argued that the government's claims are false and propaganda, for they had no ties to her assassination. Moreover, Bhutto's assistants accused the government of a cover-up and doubt that militant commander Mehsud was involved.

Bhutto's supporters blame President Pervez Musharraf's for her death and demonstrate their hatred of him by violence and expletives. The fact is this: Bhutto was very popular and his biggest threat; she was basically Musharraf's most powerful political opponent, so perhaps Bhutto's supporters have a point to be angry.

Several weeks prior to this assassination, Musharraf used his authoritarian powers to arrest thousands of political opponents for unknown reasons, and claimed it was something that needed to be done

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