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Posted on Thu, Jun. 17, 2004                                                              

Pakistani Opposition Leader Fatally Shot

AFZAL NADEEM
Associated Press

KARACHI , Pakistan - A leading opposition politician was slain in a drive-by shooting Thursday in southern Pakistan , triggering a riot by his supporters, police said.

Two gunmen who were in a white car opened fire at the car of Munawar Soharwardi, a local spokesman for the opposition Pakistan People's Party, on a busy road in eastern Karachi, the capital of Sindh province, police deputy inspector General Tariq Jamil said.

He said an investigation was under way and police were trying to trace the killers.

"Initially, we got information that two motorcyclists were involved in the attack, but now witnesses have told us that they were in a white car," Jamil said.

Soharwardi was the second official in former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's party to be killed in just over three months. On March 6, two gunmen on a motorcycle in Karachi ambushed the car of PPP lawmaker Abdullah Murad.

Bhutto, who is living in self-exile in London , blamed President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's government for the attack, saying it was aimed at warning her against returning to Pakistan .

"The murder of Soharwardi is a message for me from Gen. Musharraf," she told reporters by telephone, adding, "Let me say, I am not afraid."

Bhutto also demanded a probe into the killing of her party leader by an independent judicial commission.

Jamil said police had launched an investigation but still did not know who was behind the attack on Soharwardi, who also was a former bodyguard for Bhutto.

The killing sparked protests near Soharwardi's residence as dozens of supporters threw stones, set vehicles on fire and damaged several shops.

Angry youths also set tires ablaze to block traffic before and after Soharwardi's funeral.

Soharwardi, who served as adviser to the provincial government from 1993 to 1996, was alone in the car when the attack occurred. He was taken to a hospital, where he died, Jamil said.

Nisar Khoro, the chief of the PPP in Sindh province, also condemned the killing of Soharwardi and the earlier attack on Murad, saying the two were "victims of target killings."

However, Khoro refused to say who he believed was responsible the attacks.

Bhutto, who was Pakistan 's prime minister twice, fled the country in 1999 to avoid arrest on corruption charges.

More than 300 people have been killed in dozens of terrorist attacks across Pakistan in the past 18 months - the majority in Karachi , Pakistan 's interior minister said.

On June 10 in Karachi , assailants attempted to kill a senior army commander. He was unharmed, but 10 other people died.

Last month, bombings at two Shiite mosques in Karachi left more than 40 people dead. Also, a top Sunni Muslim cleric was killed and two car bombs exploded near the U.S. consul-general's residence, killing a police officer and wounding 40 other people.

Thu Jun 17,10:55 AM ET

Angry crowds burn vehicles to protest the killing of Munawar Soharwardi, a local leader of Benazir Bhutto's party, Thursday, June 17, 2004 in Karachi , Pakistan . The opposition politician and former bodyguard of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was slain in a drive-by shooting in southern Pakistan on Thursday, triggering a riot by his supporters. (AP Photo/Shail Adil)