30 Dead In Pakistan Rioting

Bhutto supporters torch trains, shops; government cracks down
By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 29, 2007 5:57 AM CST
30 Dead In Pakistan Rioting
Angry protesters burn vehicles to protest the killing of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, Thursday, Dec. 27, 2007 in Karachi, Pakistan. Bhutto was shot and killed in a suicide attack on her vehicle in Rawalpindi.(AP Photo/Shakil Adil)   (Associated Press)

Rioting across Pakistan has left more than 30 people dead as mourners of Benazir Bhutto set the country ablaze. The Times of London reports that the police have exchanged fire with Bhutto supporters, and  have been ordered to shoot on sight in Bhutto's stronghold of Karachi. As  banks, shops, trains, and cars have been ransacked and burned, troops have brought Pakistan to a near standstill by blocking roads and suspending air and rail service.

The Musharraf government angered Bhutto supporters by claiming that she had died not from the a bullet or from shrapnel in the bomb, but from the impact of hitting her head against the sunroof of her car. The Bhuttos' lawyer called that "a pack of lies" employed to disguise the government's failure to protect her. (More Benazir Bhutto stories.)

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