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KARACHI - Benazir Bhutto has called on the Pakistan Government to seek help from abroad in its investigation of last week's bomb attack on her convoy that killed 139 people and turned her triumphant homecoming from eight years of exile into a night of bloody chaos.
"The international community ... have anti-terrorism expertise to investigate attacks of this nature," Bhutto said after attending a prayer ceremony for victims of the attack.
On a third day of mourning for the dead, Bhutto - a former Prime Minister who is running for office again - made her first public appearance since she was rushed to safety when her convoy was targeted by a suicide bomber.
At Karachi's Jinnah Hospital, one of four hospitals that dealt with the dead and injured, Bhutto spent about 15 minutes talking with some of the 300 survivors still being treated and distributing money to them.
Outside the hospital, hundreds of supporters gathered to see her and chanted "Prime Minister Benazir".
Bhutto and her aides have spent the past three days trying to decide what the strategy for her party, the PPP, should be as it prepares to launch its campaign for parliamentary elections.
It was planned that Bhutto, 54, would lead the campaign with personal appearances, but that now seems unlikely.
Bhutto said she had provided Pakistan's President, General Pervez Musharraf, with the details of three people the PPP believe were involved in the attack.
- Independent
