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Shaken Bhutto says Islamists were behind Karachi blasts
A pale and shaken Benazir Bhutto vowed Friday not to be deterred by the bomb blasts that wrecked her triumphant homecoming and killed more than a hundred of her supporters, and she blamed extremist militants, who she said wanted to take over the country. "They are saying peace-loving people are not safe to gather," she said at a conference with hundreds of foreign and local journalists in the garden of her home in Clifton, an upscale neighborhood of this southern Pakistani port city. "A minority wants to hijack the destiny of this great nation. And we will not be intimidated by this minority."Government officials said 134 people were killed in the two blasts, which they said were caused by a single suicide bomber on foot, who first detonated a grenade and then blew himself up, scattering a lethal load of screws, pellets and shrapnel into the dense crowd around Bhutto's armored truck. About 450 people were wounded, said the home secretary, Ghulam Muhammad Mohtarem. The target was Bhutto and one of the extremist groups in Pakistan was behind it, he said. "We have no doubt it was a suicide attack," said Mohtarem, a retired brigadier, flanked by the Karachi police chief and other high-ranking police officials. "It can't be definitively said which group was involved, but it is one of the extremist groups." Posted by: Fred 2007-10-20 |
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