Benazir Bhutto was killed earlier today in Pakistan as she was leaving a campaign rally:

Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday, apparently after being shot and then attacked by a suicide bomber as she left a campaign rally, aides said. Twenty others also died.

The death of the charismatic former prime minister threw the campaign for the Jan. 8 election into chaos and created fears of mass protests and an eruption of violence across the volatile South Asian country.

The attacker struck just minutes after Bhutto addressed a rally of thousands of supporters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. She was shot in the neck and chest by the attacker, who then blew himself up, said Rehman Malik, Bhutto’s security adviser.

At least 20 others were killed in the blast.

Bhutto was the first woman elected to lead a Muslim state. No stranger to assassination attempts, Ms. Bhutto’s “Pakistan People’s Party” office was raided by masked gunmen as recently as December 8th of this year. She had been living in self-imposed exile for the past eight years before deciding to return to politics.

Benazir Bhutto shot dead at suicide bombing of rally; 20 feared dead [The Canadian Press]