KEY POINTS:
The harsh truth about yesterday's assassination of Pakistani politician Benazir Bhutto, with its shocking implications for world security, could be seen on George Bush's face.
As the US President interrupted his Christmas break at his Texas ranch to condemn "this cowardly act by murderous extremists", he looked tense and drawn.
He urged the Pakistani people "to honour Benazir Bhutto's memory by continuing with the democratic process for which she so bravely gave her life".
But panic, chaos and violence swept Pakistan after the assassination of the former Prime Minister and leading election candidate, and it seemed likely the January 8 polls that were key to that process may have to be put back again.
As fires burned in cities across Pakistan last night, fears mounted that this huge country of 167 million - the only Muslim nation with nuclear weapons - might begin to rip apart at the seams.
Bhutto's death was, by any standards, a political assassination waiting to happen. But that does not numb the world's shock or lessen fears for the repercussions on Pakistan, on the "war on terror" and on the stability of south-west Asia.
Nowhere will the shock or anxiety be more acute than in Washington. Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf may be the most vital United States ally in its struggle with Islamic extremism, but he has been an increasingly unreliable one.
As his own domestic position has weakened, he has proved unwilling and unable to move decisively against the Taleban and al Qaeda leadership hiding in Pakistan's remote frontier regions.
And he has repeatedly postponed promises to return the country to civilian rule.
As a result, a resurgent Taleban is more threatening in neighbouring Afghanistan than at any time since it was driven from power in November 2001.
This week, the New York Times reported in damning detail how billions of dollars of US aid, intended to beef up the Pakistani armed forces in their battle with radical Islam, has been diverted to weapons to counter India, or siphoned off in corruption.
Bhutto had just finished speaking at a political rally and was waving to supporters from her car when she was targeted, first by gunshots then by a suicide bomb.
She was taken to hospital but died soon afterwards.
"She has been martyred," Pakistan People's Party official Rehman Malik announced tersely outside the Rawalpindi hospital as supporters roared their grief, beat their breasts, smashed windows and stoned cars.
The assumption is that Islamic extremists were responsible for the killing.
But because it happened in Rawalpindi, headquarters of Pakistan's dominant military, suspicion against the army and the powerful intelligence service will be raised anew.
The streets of Pakistan's biggest city were largely deserted last night. Most shops were shuttered and paramilitary troops and police patrolled.
But that didn't stop more violence.
Unidentified gunmen shot dead a policeman in Karachi, police said.
Hospital officials said earlier that four people were killed in the city and the interior of the province was also tense.
Bhutto's body was taken to her family village for burial.
Thousands of mourners thronged her ancestral home as her body arrived in a military aircraft, accompanied by her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, and their three children.
People began crying and wailing as Bhutto's coffin was taken to her family home in an ambulance.
"Show patience. Give us courage to bear this loss," Zardari urged the mourners as the coffin was carried into the house.
Nawaz Sharif, her former nemesis and main rival for power in the forthcoming election declared: "It is not a sad day, it is the darkest, gloomiest day in the history of this country."
He blamed the Government for "a serious lapse in security".
Farzana Raja, an official in Bhutto's party, said the killing was "the act of those who want Pakistan to disintegrate".
"She was a symbol of unity. They are the enemies of Pakistan."
- INDEPENDENT, REUTERS
