Bush Condemns Bhutto Killers

President Bush today called for action against the killers of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto. “The United States strongly condemns this cowardly act by murderous extremists who are trying to undermine Pakistan’s democracy,” Bush said at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. The US had strenuously promoted Bhutto's return to Pakistan in a potential power-sharing arrangement with president Pervez Musharraf.

Leaders around the globe voiced sorrow over Bhutto's death. "I was deeply shocked and horrified to hear of the heinous assassination," said India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai lamented the loss of "this brave sister of ours, a brave daughter of the Muslim world," and French President Nikolas Sarkozy condemned the "odious act." (More Benazir Bhutto stories.)