Word: karachi
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...explosions happened nearly 12 hours after Bhutto's long anticipated arrival in Karachi. Her passage out of the airport, where she was thronged by thousands of supporters, took nearly three hours to cover 100 meters. Once on the streets, her passage was slowed even further by dancing, cheering crowds shouting "Long live Bhutto!" and "Welcome home, Benazir!" The cheers turned to screams as the panicked crowd fled in all directions. Al-Qaeda-linked militants in the tribal areas of Pakistan had threatened to kill Bhutto upon her arrival, and intelligence agencies warned of several militant groups plotting terror attacks...
...Benazir Bhutto's return to Pakistan after eight years in exile, the streets of Karachi are plastered with posters welcoming the two-time former Prime Minister back home. Banners hang from overpasses and the city's iconic palm trees drip with the red, green and black of her Pakistan People's Party colors. Billboards, which usually feature ads for Motorola and new shopping centers, have been taken over by greetings from party faithful. Every available wall has been tiled with her image in Warhol-like repetition, and graffiti screams WELCOME HOME, GREAT LEADER...
...Bhutto has received less welcome greetings as well. Baitullah Meshud, the Mullah Omar of the Pakistani Taliban, has threatened to kill her upon arrival, and Karachi police inspectors say they have evidence of at least three different terrorist groups - one affiliated with al-Qaeda - that have been operating in the area. In recent speeches Bhutto has promised that tackling terrorism in Pakistan, which has hit this southern port city the hardest, will be her first priority if she becomes Prime Minister again in general elections slated for January. Her arrival, and a proposed power sharing deal with President General Pervez...
More than 20,000 police have been assigned to protect Bhutto and her entourage as she makes her way from the Karachi airport to the mausoleum of Pakistan's founder on Thursday. Snipers will occupy rooftops and flyovers, and bomb disposal units have already started sweeping the route. It's a journey that usually takes less than an hour. Police and party organizers are expecting an ordeal that could last up to eighteen hours, as fans coming as far away as Kashmir, in the country's northeast, block her passage in an attempt to get a glimpse of their rehabilitated...
Strategists, however, are skeptical as to whether she can pull off a comeback. One indication of how she will do at the polls will be the number of people who line the streets when her plane lands in the Sind capital of Karachi. Millions cheered her return to Pakistan in 1986, after nearly a decade of martial rule. Two years later, she led the opposition coalition to victory in democratic elections. Party leaders say this time, they will be happy if 200,000 people show up to guide her path to Larkana, where she will once again try to pick...