20 dead as wave of violence follows Bhutto funeral

More than 20 people died today in a wave of violence that swept across Pakistan following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.

The army had to be called in to keep order in several cities in southern Pakistan after rioting broke out.

The government of Sindh province, the Bhutto home region, has requested the army's help "to control the law and order situation" in the cities of Karachi, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Nawab Shah and Gotki, said Ghulam Mohammed Mohtaram, the province's home secretary.

Reports said soldiers patrolling in Hyderabad were stopping people from leaving homes.

In an attempt to halt rumours that the Pakistan government were behind Ms Bhutto's killing, Pakistan's interior minister Hamid Nawaz said al-Qaida and Taliban were responsible.

"We have the evidence that al-Qaida and Taliban were behind the suicide attack on Benazir Bhutto," he said.

He added that investigators had resolved the "whole mystery" behind the opposition leader's killing and would give details later.

A mob in Karachi looted at least three banks and set them on fire, and engaged in a shootout with police that left three officers wounded.

About 7,000 people in the central city of Multan ransacked seven banks and a gas station and threw stones at police, who responded with tear gas. In the capital, Islamabad, about 100 protesters burned tires in a commercial quarter of the city.

Paramilitary rangers were given the authority to use live fire to stop rioters from damaging property in southern Pakistan, said a spokesman.

"We have orders to shoot on sight," he said.

Ghulam Mohammed Mohtaram, home secretary for Sindh province, confirmed that the provincial government requested the army's help "to control the law and order situation" in several cities.

Earlier, angry mobs burned 10 railway stations and several trains across Ms Bhutto's Sindh province, forcing the suspension of all train service between the city of Karachi and the eastern Punjab province.

The rioters uprooted one section of the track leading to the Indian border.

About 4,000 Bhutto supporters gathered in the north-western city of Peshawar and several hundred ransacked the empty office of the main pro-Musharraf party, burning furniture and stationery.

Protesters shouted "Musharraf dog" and "Bhutto was alive yesterday, Bhutto is alive today."

Dozens of police in riot gear followed the protesters but did not intervene.

Many cities were nearly deserted as businesses closed and public transportation came to a halt at the start of three days of national mourning for Ms Bhutto.

A coalition of opposition parties called for a general strike, said Mohammed Usman Kakar, a leader in the All Parties Democratic Movement.

In the wake of the killing, Nawaz Sharif, another former premier and leader of a rival opposition party, announced his party would boycott the elections.

"I am worried about the country, about the people. Nobody is secure, there is total insecurity," Mr Sharif said.

Opposition politician and former cricket star Imran Khan blamed Mr Musharraf for Ms Bhutto's death, saying he did not give her proper security. Speaking in Mumbai, India, where he was on a private visit, he called on the president to resign and for an independent judicial probe into her death.

Violence ripped through much of the country. A mob in Karachi looted at least three banks and set them on fire, and exchanged shots with police that left three officers wounded, police said.

About 7,000 people in the central city of Multan ransacked seven banks and a petrol station and threw stones at police, who responded with tear gas. In the capital, Islamabad, about 100 protesters burned tires in a commercial quarter of the city.

Paramilitary rangers were given the authority to use live fire to stop rioters from damaging property in southern Pakistan.

Angry mobs burned 10 railway stations and several trains across Ms Bhutto's Sindh province, forcing the suspension of all train service between the city of Karachi and the eastern Punjab province.

The rioters uprooted one section of the track leading to the Indian border.

Meanwhile police in Indian-controlled Kashmir clashed with hundreds of stone-throwing demonstrators protesting over the assassination.

They used tear gas to disperse the demonstrators who took to the streets in Srinagar, the main city of India's Jammu-Kashmir state.

The protesters hurled rocks at police and chanted "we want freedom" and "long live Pakistan" when police tried to stop them from holding a demonstration.

Many in the Muslim-majority Himalayan region, which is divided between India and Pakistan, want independence from mostly Hindu India or a union with mainly Muslim Pakistan.

Kashmir is claimed entirely by both India and Pakistan who have fought two of their three wars over the region.

About 4,000 Bhutto supporters gathered in the north-western city of Peshawar and several hundred ransacked the empty office of the main pro-Musharraf party, burning furniture and stationery.

Protesters shouted "Musharraf dog" and "Bhutto was alive yesterday, Bhutto is alive today".

Dozens of police in riot gear followed the protesters, but did not intervene.

In other violence, a roadside bomb killed a local leader from the ruling party and three of his associates as they drove through Swat in north-western Pakistan, where troops have been fighting followers of a pro-Taliban cleric in recent months.

Many cities were nearly deserted as businesses closed and public transportation came to a halt at the start of three days of national mourning for Ms Bhutto.

Troops were put on alert in four cities in Sindh as a precaution.

A coalition of opposition parties called for a general strike, said Mohammed Usman Kakar, a leader in the All Parties Democratic Movement, which comprises small anti-Musharraf groups.

As many Pakistanis mourned, others demanded answers.

Mr Musharraf blamed the attack on the resurgent Islamic militants Pakistan is fighting along the border region with Afghanistan, pledging in a nationally televised speech that "we will not rest until we eliminate these terrorists and root them out".

But authorities said they had yet to identify the attacker.

"It is too early to say who may have been responsible," said Saud Aziz, the chief of police in Rawalpindi where the assassination happened. A joint task force of police and officials from other law enforcement agencies were investigating, he said.

In the wake of the killing, Nawaz Sharif, another former premier and leader of a rival opposition party, announced his party would boycott the elections.

"I am worried about the country, about the people. Nobody is secure, there is total insecurity," he said.

The election was seen as a pivotal step toward restoring democracy eight years after Mr Musharraf seized power in a coup. It also was intended to restore credibility to the government after he used a six-week state of emergency to arrest thousands of political opponents and crack down on the independent judiciary.

However, with Mr Sharif's party on the sidelines and Ms Bhutto's party leaderless and in disarray, the election will have little if any credibility.

Bhutto's death closed another grim chapter in Pakistan's bloodstained history, 28 years after her father, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, another ex-prime minister, was hanged by a military dictatorship just two miles from where she was killed.