Violence flares in Pakistan after Bhutto assassination

Violence flared in Pakistan as angry supporters of assassinated leader Benazir Bhutto took to the streets. Unidentified gunmen shot dead a policeman and wounded three in a Bhutto stronghold in the southern city of Karachi, capital of Bhutto's home province of Sindh, while groups of young men torched vehicles and shops across the province. Violence flares in Pakistan after Bhutto assassination "Since last night a lot of damage has been caused. Shops, cars and government buildings are being burnt," said senior Karachi police official Azhar Ali Farooqi. "We're trying to control the situation but emotions are running high," he said. Violence erupted in different parts of the country on Thursday after news of former prime minister Bhutto's death spread. Worst affected was Sindh. Hospital officials said four people were killed in the city late on Thursday and early on Friday. The streets of Karachi, Pakistan's biggest city, were largely deserted on Friday with shops shuttered and paramilitary troops and police patrolling. With taxis and buses off the streets, many people were seen on foot, carrying bags on their heads and backs from the railway station and airport. Fires blazed across the interior of Sindh, Bhutto's main bastion of support. A Reuters reporter traveling from Karachi to the Bhuttos' home district of Larkana said he saw hundreds of smoldering vehicles and many shops set alight. Protesters had also set a stationary train on fire. "More and more people are joining the protests. Groups of youths have blocked almost all roads in and around Larkana with burning tires," he said. The scene of the terror attack that killed Bhutto (FoNet) "Long live Bhutto" Protesters shouted slogans against Bhutto's old rival, President Pervez Musharraf. Musharraf condemned Bhutto's killing and called for calm and declared three days of mourning. Bhutto's party said it would observe 40 days of mourning while another opposition leader and former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, called for a nationwide strike on Friday. Bhutto's husband, Asif Ali Zardari, said his wife would be buried in the family graveyard in Garhi Khuda Baksh, a village near the Bhutto home in Larkana district at 3 p.m. Thousands of mourners gathered for the funeral, many holding the party's black, green and red flag. In the northwestern city of Peshawar two offices of pro-Musharraf political parties were torched, a witness said. Protesters set fire to a railway station, several banks, government vehicles and offices of a pro-Musharraf party in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, police said. In Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan's portion of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir protesters took to the streets but there was no violence, a witness said. "Long live Bhutto ... killer Musharraf, killer," they shouted.

Violence flares in Pakistan after Bhutto assassination

"Since last night a lot of damage has been caused. Shops, cars and government buildings are being burnt," said senior Karachi police official Azhar Ali Farooqi.

"We're trying to control the situation but emotions are running high," he said.

Violence erupted in different parts of the country on Thursday after news of former prime minister Bhutto's death spread.

Worst affected was Sindh. Hospital officials said four people were killed in the city late on Thursday and early on Friday.

The streets of Karachi, Pakistan's biggest city, were largely deserted on Friday with shops shuttered and paramilitary troops and police patrolling.

With taxis and buses off the streets, many people were seen on foot, carrying bags on their heads and backs from the railway station and airport.

Fires blazed across the interior of Sindh, Bhutto's main bastion of support.

A Reuters reporter traveling from Karachi to the Bhuttos' home district of Larkana said he saw hundreds of smoldering vehicles and many shops set alight.

Protesters had also set a stationary train on fire.

"More and more people are joining the protests. Groups of youths have blocked almost all roads in and around Larkana with burning tires," he said.

"Long live Bhutto"

Protesters shouted slogans against Bhutto's old rival, President Pervez Musharraf.

Musharraf condemned Bhutto's killing and called for calm and declared three days of mourning.

Bhutto's party said it would observe 40 days of mourning while another opposition leader and former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, called for a nationwide strike on Friday.

Bhutto's husband, Asif Ali Zardari, said his wife would be buried in the family graveyard in Garhi Khuda Baksh, a village near the Bhutto home in Larkana district at 3 p.m.

Thousands of mourners gathered for the funeral, many holding the party's black, green and red flag.

In the northwestern city of Peshawar two offices of pro-Musharraf political parties were torched, a witness said.

Protesters set fire to a railway station, several banks, government vehicles and offices of a pro-Musharraf party in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, police said.

In Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan's portion of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir protesters took to the streets but there was no violence, a witness said.

"Long live Bhutto ... killer Musharraf, killer," they shouted.