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Chaos Erupts in Pakistani Streets Before Bhutto's Funeral; at Least 10 Killed

Friday, December 28, 2007

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan —  Benazir Bhutto's supporters rampaged through cities Friday to protest her assassination less than two weeks before a crucial election, ransacking banks and setting train stations ablaze, officials said.

In southern Pakistan, thousands of grieving mourners packed the streets around the slain former prime minister's family home as her coffin was driven toward the mausoleum where she was to be buried.

Thursday's killing of President Pervez Musharraf's most powerful political opponent plunged Pakistan into turmoil and badly damaged plans to restore democracy in this nuclear-armed U.S. ally.

FOX Facts: Benazir Bhutto

Click here to view photos of Bhutto.

Click here to view photos of the blast (WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT)

Angry Bhutto supporters ran amok through the streets after her assassination, lighting cars and stores on fire in violence that killed at least 10 people. The attack on Bhutto also killed 20 others.

Prime Minister Mohammedmian Soomro said Friday the government had no immediate plan to postpone Jan. 8 parliamentary elections, despite the growing chaos and a top opposition leader's decision to boycott the poll.

"Right now the elections stand where they were," he told a news conference. "We will consult all the political parties to take any decision about it."

Bhutto's funeral procession began Friday afternoon at her ancestral residence in the southern town of Naudero. Her plain wood coffin — draped in the red, green and black flag of her Pakistan People's Party — was carried in a white ambulance toward her family's massive white mausoleum in Garhi Khuda Baksh, several miles away.

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She was to be buried next to the grave of her father, also a popular former prime minister who met a violent death, said Nazir Dhoki, a spokesman for Bhutto's party.

Thousands of mourners, many of them women and children, gathered around the house. "Benazir is alive, Bhutto is alive," cried many of the mourners.

"She was not just the leader of the PPP, she was a leader of the whole country. I don't know what will happen to the country now," said Nazakat Soomro, 32.

Charred vehicles burned in overnight rioting lay at the roadside in the town.

TIMES OF LONDON: Who Killed Bhutto — The Main Suspects

Click to view international coverage of Bhutto's assassination

Click to watch live streaming video from DAWN TV

Video: Click here to watch Greta Van Susteren's interview with Bhutto.

Video: Bhutto Killed in Attack

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