Dozens dead in Pakistan blasts as Bhutto returns

By Zeeshan Haider

KARACHI (Reuters) - Two explosions hit former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto's convoy on Friday killing up to 35 people as she returned to Pakistan from eight years in self-imposed exile.

Television channels said Bhutto was safe and had left the truck that had been transporting her through roads thronged by hundreds of thousands of people in Karachi, Pakistan's most violent city.

Militants linked to al Qaeda, angered by Bhutto's support for the United States war on terrorism, had threatened to assassinate her.

More than 20 bodies could be seen on the ground near the scene of one of the blasts. A senior security official said the death toll was between 30 and 35 people.

Some 20,000 security personnel had been deployed to provide protection.

Intelligence reports suggested at least three jihadi groups linked to al Qaeda and the Taliban were plotting suicide attacks, according to a provincial official.

Bhutto had returned to lead her Pakistan People's Party into national elections meant to return the country to civilian rule.

For years Bhutto had vowed to return to Pakistan to end military dictatorship, yet she came back as a potential ally for President Pervez Musharraf, the army chief who took power in a 1999 coup.