Chaos and carnage at Bhutto's rally

RAWALPINDI: AFP correspondent Nasir Jaffry was just metres away from the suicide attack that killed Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.   

This is his first-person account of the assassination:       

"It was exactly 5:16pm when it happened. I heard two shots and I thought, 'What is that?' Before I could even realise what had transpired, the explosion went off.   

"There was a gigantic boom and I saw a big ball of fire and smoke.  

"There was absolute panic. People started running everywhere -- and yet right away they were also yelling, 'It's a bomb! A bomb!'   

"I started running, too. The sun was almost down by then and the light was not good -- I was trying not to step in the pieces of flesh that were blown all over the place.   

"I saw bodies everywhere -- mutilated bodies. A man without legs, some one without a hand. There were dozens of badly wounded people, and pools of blood in the road.   

"Bits of the suicide bomber were in the road as well. They were burnt pieces of flesh and others not burnt that were like fresh meat. Red and bloody.   

"All of a sudden I saw half of a head. It had been sliced in half, vertically. You could only make out the hair and skin. There was nothing else to identify it.   

"A policeman told me, 'That's the head of the bomber'.   

"I got only a glimpse of a white 4x4 that went zooming off. Later people said that was Bhutto's vehicle, and that she was inside, headed to hospital.   

"Ambulances with flashing lights and sirens came to take away the wounded. It was so chaotic. People were helping lift the injured into the ambulances.   

"Meanwhile a truck came from the local fire brigade. They took their hoses and started spraying water on the street, trying to wash away the blood and the pieces of flesh.   

"People were in shock, holding onto each other.   

"At first the word was that Bhutto was safe. I remember there was a group of boys who looked so happy. They thought she was fine.   

"But then we started to get word that she was no more.   

"I was standing underneath the window of a house right across from the gate of the park. And I saw a former MP -- Raja Shafqat Abassi.  

"He was up on the first floor, madly beating his chest and head, screaming and wailing.   

"'She has left us!' he cried. 'We have lost our leader!'   

"And as the word got round, people began screaming and crying. My wife called me and said: 'Have you heard the news? Bhutto is dead.'   

"The police at the park were not confirming it. All the roads were blocked, the police closed off the area so it was almost impossible to get out.   

"But I managed to get around the police and get to a car that took me to the hospital.   

"There must have been 1,000 or 1,500 people outside. They were shouting abuse at President (Pervez) Musharraf.   

"I saw an old man who was weeping. He said, 'We have lost our daughter.'   

"There were teenagers who yelled: 'We have lost our sister.'   

"And then all manner of things were shouted, some very nasty expletives yelled about the president.   

"One man screamed: 'They killed a woman in a suicide attack!'   

"People were furious. It was difficult for the police to keep order, but they were lenient.   

"They sensed that the mob was angry -- and that anything they did could have led to more problems."