Dozens killed in blasts as Bhutto returns

Two explosions hit former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's convoy yesterday killing up to 89 people as she returned to Pakistan from eight years in self-imposed exile.

Television channels said Mrs Bhutto was safe and had left the truck that had been transporting her through roads thronged by hundreds of thousands of people in Karachi, Pakistan's most violent city.

Militants linked to al Qaeda, angered by Mrs Bhutto's support for the United States' war on terrorism, had threatened to assassinate her.

More than 20 bodies could be seen on the ground near the scene of one of the blasts. A senior security official said the death toll was between 30 and 35 people.

Some 20,000 security personnel had been deployed to provide protection.

Intelligence reports suggested at least three jihadi groups linked to al Qaeda and the Taliban were plotting suicide attacks, according to a provincial official.

"She has an agreement with America. We will carry out attacks on Benazir Bhutto as we did on General Pervez Musharraf," Haji Omar, a Taliban commander in the Waziristan tribal region on the Afghan border, told Reuters by satellite telephone.

Mrs Bhutto had returned to lead her Pakistan People's Party into national elections meant to return the country to civilian rule.

"I am thankful to God, I am very happy that I'm back in my country and I was dreaming of this day," a tearful Mrs Bhutto said as she disembarked an Emirates flight from Dubai and kissed a Koran once she stepped on Pakistani soil.

For years Mrs Bhutto had vowed to return to Pakistan to end military dictatorship, yet she came back as a potential ally for President Pervez Musharraf, the army chief who took power in a 1999 coup.

Before saying goodbye to her two daughters and husband, Asif Ali Zardari, in Dubai, Mrs Bhutto described Pakistan as being at a crossroads between democracy and dictatorship.

President Musharraf is going through his weakest period, and there is strong speculation he will end up sharing power with Mrs Bhutto after national elections due in early January.

The United States is believed to have quietly encouraged their alliance to keep nuclear-armed Pakistan pro-Western and committed to fighting al Qaeda and supporting Nato's efforts to stabilise Afghanistan.

Dressed in a green kameez, a loose tunic, her head covered by a white scarf, Mrs Bhutto had earlier stood in plain view on top of her truck, ignoring police advice to stay behind its bullet-proof glass, as it edged through crowds waving the red, black and green tricolour of her Pakistan People's Party (PPP).

"Now that the people have given their verdict, it is necessary that the elections should be free and fair," she said before setting off at the head of a procession into Karachi.

After three hours her truck had gone half a kilometre to reach the airport gate, so great was the crowd, and as dusk fell the main road into the downtown area was completely clogged.

While the rest of Pakistan was transfixed by Mrs Bhutto's homecoming, General Musharraf spent most of the day at his army office in Rawalpindi, with no official engagements scheduled, an aide said.

Red, black and green tricolour of Mrs Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party festooned streets and billboards displayed giant images of Mrs Bhutto and her late father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the country's first popularly elected Prime Minister, who was ousted and executed by his army chief, General Mohammed Zia-ul-Haq.

President Musharraf has already granted an amnesty to protect Mrs Bhutto from corruption charges brought by the government of Nawaz Sharif, the Prime Minister he overthrew and later exiled.

But the Supreme Court is challenging President Musharraf's right to bestow an amnesty. It is also hearing challenges to the President's right to have stood for re-election while still army chief in a ballot he won easily on October 6, even though he has promised to be sworn in as a civilian leader.

Judge Javed Iqbal expected a ruling in 10 or 12 days' time.