Bhutto buried in Sindh
Benazir Bhutto delivered an address to supporters in Rawalpindi just before her death.
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Friday, 28, Dec 2007 12:29
Benazir Bhutto has been buried near her home village in the southern province of Sindh, as violence escalates across Pakistan.
The former Pakistan prime minister was killed after a suicide blast at a political rally in Rawalpindi yesterday.
Ms Bhutto - who returned to Pakistan after years in exile two months ago - was shot in the chest and neck as she got into her car before the gunman blew himself up.
Her husband Asif Alli Zardari and three children accompanied her body aboard a C-130 military aircraft to Sukkor before travelling by bus from there to her native village of Garhi Khuda Baksh in Larkana district.
Thousands of mourners attended as she was buried this afternoon next to her father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the country's first popularly-elected prime minister who was hanged after a military coup.
Though president Pervez Musharaf has appealed for calm and announced three days of national mourning, violence has soared across Pakistan with protesters and Bhutto supporters rioting.
Businesses, banks and government offices have been attacked and set alight while police in Khairpur opened fire on an angry mob, according to local television stations.
"It's all mayhem everywhere," Shehryar Ahmad, a Karachi-based investment banker, was quoted by CNN as saying. "There's absolutely no order of any kind. No army on the streets. No curfew."
At least 11 deaths have been reported, with Ms Bhutto's home province of Sindh the worst affected by the violence.
"Since last night a lot of damage has been caused. Shops, cars and government buildings are being burnt," Karachi police official Azhar Ali Farooqi told Reuters.
"We're trying to control the situation but emotions are running high."
Pakistan's ARY television network has today reported that al-Qaida has claimed responsibility for yesterday's gun and bomb attack.