Bhutto visits ancestral village

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has arrived under heavy security at her ancestral village in Larkana in southern Sindh province.

It is her first public trip outside Karachi since nearly 140 people were killed in an assassination attempt.

The attack came within hours of her arrival in Pakistan last week after eight years of self-imposed exile.

At her home village, Ms Bhutto is to pray at the tomb of her executed father, former PM Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.

She was greeted by crowds of supporters as she arrived at the heavily-guarded airport in Sukkur, near her home village of Garhi Khuda Baksh.

Her convoy to Karachi airport had a strong police escort and side roads along her route were sealed off.

Seat of power

Dozens of activists from her Pakistan People's Party, armed with AK-47s, are guarding her father's tomb.

Larkana, where the Bhutto family are large landowners, is Ms Bhutto's seat of power, says the BBC's Barbara Plett in Islamabad.

She will want to hold some kind of public rally, but after her homecoming parade was torn apart by bombs on 18 October it is not certain she will be able to, says our correspondent.

Ms Bhutto has vowed to stay in Pakistan despite the attack and campaign in the parliamentary election scheduled to be held by January.

"People are just being butchered and it has to stop, somebody has to find a solution and my solution is let's restore democracy," she told a news conference before leaving Karachi.

"Let's give the people education, let's give the people empowerment, let's give the people employment."

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf granted Ms Bhutto an amnesty from corruption charges that allowed her to return to Pakistan.

She has been negotiating with Gen Musharraf over a possible power-sharing deal.

Bhutto determined to contest poll

Ms Bhutto described the attacks as "dastardly and cowardly"

Former Pakistani PM Benazir Bhutto has promised she will never surrender to militants following twin bomb attacks on her convoy which killed 130 people.

Ms Bhutto told that there could be more attacks to come, but said she and her party were determined to contest the parliamentary elections in January.

The carnage has raised questions about the safety of campaigning for the poll.

Earlier, she said ex-army officials had been behind the attacks, but stressed she was not blaming the government.

She also said she had been warned that she would be targeted by four militant groups before returning to Pakistan after eight years in self-imposed exile.

Correspondents say many are asking why Ms Bhutto held the procession in Karachi on Thursday despite such fears.

'Saving democracy'

In an interview, Ms Bhutto said she was lucky to be alive following the two attacks on her motorcade as it travelled down the main road from Karachi's airport to the city centre.

What I really need to ask myself is: do I give up, do I let the militants determine the agenda? Benazir Bhutto

Authorities have said the first blast was caused by a hand grenade and that the second was a suicide bombing, but the exact sequence of events remains unclear.

She said armed militants had targeted her and that she had been saved by the bravery of her bodyguards.

Ms Bhutto conceded she was at constant risk of another attack in the future, particularly during an election campaign.

"What I really need to ask myself is: do I give up, do I let the militants determine the agenda?" she said.

Ms Bhutto said she and the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) were determined to contest the parliamentary election due to be held by mid-January and were ready to take the risks to defend democracy.

"I've been having a party meeting and, believe me, the spirit amongst the party is one that I'm so proud of because they say we can't let the militants dictate to us what's going to happen, and that we have to try and save Pakistan by saving democracy. So my supporters are ready."

Warnings

Ms Bhutto was not very specific about who she thought had attacked her, but did say she had received a warning about Pakistani and Afghan members of al-Qaeda, the Taleban and local Pakistani groups.

I don't believe the state or the government was involved in the attack on me at this stage Benazir Bhutto

Several Islamist militant groups had threatened to attack Ms Bhutto after she promised to confront those operating in the northern tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

Half an hour before the bombs went off, she said, her security personnel had detained someone found with explosives around his body.

The person was handed over to the police, but Ms Bhutto said she did not know whether the police had discovered anything.

Ms Bhutto said Pakistan's President, Gen Pervez Musharraf, had called her shortly after the attack and that she was not blaming the government for what had happened.

KEY DATES 06 Oct: Presidential polls held 17 Oct: Supreme Court resumes hearing challenges to Musharraf candidacy 18 Oct: Benazir Bhutto's homecoming 15 Nov: Parliamentary term ends and general election must be held by mid-January

"I don't believe the state or the government was involved in the attack on me at this stage," she said.

"But I do believe that the sympathisers of the militants had managed to infiltrate some of our agencies and some of our administrative apparatus in a new guise and that they abused their positions to give covert support to the militants, which is why controlling militancy has really not succeeded within the country."

Ms Bhutto said extremists were a small minority in Pakistan and that she wanted to appeal to those who wanted to build a moderate society.

Bhutto convoy bombs kill dozens

At least 58 people have been killed and 100 wounded after two bombs hit crowds greeting returning Pakistani ex-PM Benazir Bhutto.

Ms Bhutto was being driven in a convoy through crowded streets from Karachi airport to a rally to mark her homecoming after eight years in exile.

Ms Bhutto was not among the casualties and has been driven to safety.

Hundreds of thousands of people had turned out to greet the former PM, amid a huge security presence.

Several Islamist groups including pro-Taleban militants have made threats against Ms Bhutto.

The motorcade is now said to be at a standstill, and police have cordoned off the scene of the blasts.

The area around a stage where she was due to give a speech to supporters has been evacuated.

Police say the bombings may have been suicide attacks.

Rushed away

The first explosion was relatively small but was followed by a much larger blast close to the front of Ms Bhutto's truck, which broke its windows and door.

Police vehicles took the main force of the blasts.

It is not clear whether the bomber was in a car or on foot, although police said an unregistered small white car pulled up near a police escort immediately before the explosions.

Witnesses said body parts were strewn across Ms Bhutto's truck. The death toll is expected to rise.

Most of the dead were members of her Pakistan People's Party (PPP). One cameraman for a local TV station was killed.

Correspondents say Ms Bhutto may have been shielded from the blast by an overhang because she was sitting on top of the truck at the time.

The former prime minister was immediately rushed from the scene to her Karachi residency, according to contingency plans.

Power-sharing deal

Ms Bhutto flew in from Dubai earlier on Thursday, accompanied on the flight by about 100 PPP members.

At least 200,000 people turned out to greet her in what correspondents described as a carnival atmosphere, but the crowds slowed the progress of her convoy.

Ms Bhutto had been planning to make a speech at the tomb of Pakistan's founding father, Mohammed Ali Jinnah.

The BBC's Damian Grammaticas in Karachi says that despite being away for eight years, Ms Bhutto is still enormously popular as a scion of Pakistan's pre-eminent political dynasty.

Ms Bhutto left the country soon after Gen Musharraf seized power in a coup, but returned under a power-sharing deal with the president which could see her becoming prime minister again.

The US has backed the deal, amid concerns about the military's inability to defeat Islamist militants and Gen Musharraf's rising unpopularity.

Huge crowds greet Bhutto return

Hundreds of thousands of people have been greeting Benazir Bhutto, following her dramatic return to Pakistan after eight years in exile.

Well-wishers packed the streets of Karachi in the hope of glimpsing the ex-PM, causing her motorcade to get bogged down as it left the airport.

Ms Bhutto is set to hold power-sharing talks with President Pervez Musharraf, which could see her becoming PM again.

She has pledged to work towards free and fair elections.

There is a huge security presence amid threats of attacks by militants.

Roads clogged

Ms Bhutto flew from Dubai, accompanied on the flight from Dubai by about 100 members of her Pakistan People's Party (PPP).

At least 200,000 people turned out to greet her, lining the 6km (four-mile) route from the airport into the city.

The BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan in Karachi says many people are dressed in the red, black and green colours of Ms Bhutto's PPP party and there is a carnival atmosphere, with music playing and food stalls in place.

The size of the crowd on the streets means her convoy is making very slow progress

Reports say her special bullet-proof truck took three hours to go just half a kilometre and that the road was still clogged as dusk fell.

The former prime minister rejected police calls to sit inside the vehicle, instead on top of it with party colleagues.

Ms Bhutto is planning to make a speech at the tomb of Pakistan's founding father, Mohammed Ali Jinnah.

"It's an extremely moving and emotional moment for me," Ms Bhutto told the BBC after her arrival in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city.

"I could not believe that this day that I have counted the hours, the minutes, the months and the years to, had finally arrived."

Enduring popularity

When she first stepped onto Pakistani soil at Karachi airport Ms Bhutto was overcome with emotion and burst into tears.

Many PPP supporters have been bussed in from outlying areas by the party - a show of organisational strength which the ex-prime minister hopes will boost her chances of a return to power, correspondents report.

The BBC's Damian Grammaticas in Karachi says that despite being away for eight years, Ms Bhutto is still enormously popular as a scion of Pakistan's pre-eminent political dynasty.

About 20,000 troops and police have been deployed in the city to oversee Ms Bhutto's arrival amid threats by Islamist militants to assassinate both her and Gen Musharraf.

Gen Musharraf had asked Ms Bhutto to delay her return until the Supreme Court decided whether he was eligible to serve as president for another term.

He easily won a presidential vote on 6 October after opposition deputies in the national and provincial assemblies - which choose the president - either boycotted or abstained from the vote.

However, the court said he could not be officially declared the winner until it had finished ruling on objections to his candidacy.

Ms Bhutto left the country soon after Gen Musharraf seized power in a coup.

Washington has backed a power-sharing deal with Gen Musharraf which would see Ms Bhutto becoming prime minister.

It has become increasingly concerned over the military's inability to defeat Islamist extremists and Gen Musharraf's rising unpopularity.