Pakistani political leaders who were assassinated

Political leaders have been frequently targetted in Pakistan. Benazir Bhutto and Salman Taseer are some of the high profile leaders who were murdered in separate attacks in the country. 

Benazir Bhutto 

Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in a suicide attack on December 27, 2007. 

 

Bhutto — the first woman PM in an Islamic state — was leaving an election rally in Rawalpindi when a gunman had shot her in the neck and set off a bomb. At least 20 other people died in the attack and several more were injured.

Protests had gripped some cities, and security forces had been placed on a state of "red alert" nationwide.

Salman Taseer 

The then-Punjab governor Salman Taseer was assassinated by one of his bodyguards in Islamabad on January 4, 2011.

 

Mumtaz Qadri had shot at Taseer when was getting into his car at a market. Taseer's murder was one of Pakistan's most high-profile assassinations.

He was a prominent liberal politician in the country and a close associate of the then president Asif Ali Zardari.

Shahbaz Bhatti

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In May 2011, months after Taseer was gunned down, Minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti, was shot dead by gunmen who ambushed his car.

Bhatti was on his way to work in Islamabad when unknown gunmen riddled his car with bullets. The minister arrived dead at Shifa Hospital and his driver was also wounded badly.