Graphic: Violence in Pakistan

Benazir Bhutto was laid to rest before tens of thousands of mourners yesterday as Pakistan’s Government accused al-Qaeda of killing her and a furious row erupted over precisely how she died.

More than 30 people were killed as riots erupted across the country. Banks, police and railway stations, shops, factories, foreign fast-food outlets and vehicles were set ablaze in cities throughout Pakistan.

Demonstrators exchanged gun-fire with police, aircraft were grounded, railway lines severed and roads blocked. Troops were on the streets of the main cities and, in Karachi, Ms Bhutto’s stronghold, they had orders to shoot rioters.

The Government fuelled the anger by claiming that Ms Bhutto was killed not by bullets or shrapnel, but when the impact of a suicide bomb smashed her head against the lever of her vehicle’s sunroof.

Farooq Naik, Ms Bhutto’s lawyer, called the claim a “pack of lies” designed to cover up a serious security lapse, and said that the country was “heading towards civil war”.

The Interior Ministry released what it described as a transcript of an intercepted call in which Baitullah Mehsud, an Islamic militant with ties to al-Qaeda and the Taleban, congratulated a colleague on the assassination.

The transcript suggested that three men were involved in the operation, and two actually carried it out. The transcript quoted Mehsud saying: “It was a spectacular job. They were very brave boys who killed her.”

The Interior Ministry also released photographs of the mutilated head of the alleged suicide bomber, and a grainy video showing the moments leading up to the assasination.

Ms Bhutto's husband Asif Ali Zardari said she had left a message for the party about its future in the event of her death which would be read out tomorrow by her son.

"She has left a message for the party and she has left a will so we shall be doing that tomorrow after the third day (of official mourning,)" he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"We have called for a meeting and her will will be read out there and the instructions she has left will be read out there."

He said she had made preparations in minute detail - including changing her choice of burial place from his family's ancestral graveyard to that of hers in the wake of a previous suicide bomb attack.

Asked if he would succeed her as party leader, he said: "It depends on the party and depends on the will."

His wife had meant "much more than life" to him, he said.

"I have seen many tragedies in my life...but nothing has devastated me more than this has.

"We were always aware of the dangers she faced but somehow we were hoping that we would succeed and they would not - the terrorists and the people who back these terrorists."

Mohammed Mian Soomro, Pakistan’s acting Prime Minister, said that there were no plans to postpone the general election scheduled for January 8, despite the violence and boycotts announced by leading political parties. Gordon Brown telephoned President Musharraf to urge him to proceed with the poll, but stopped short of saying that it should still be held on January 8.

“The terrorists want to prevent democracy in Pakistan by bombing and suicide actions. It is clear that the people want to stand up against terrorism. I have urged President Musharraf that the democratic process must continue,” Mr Brown said.

Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, expressed similar sentiments. Hailing Ms Bhutto as a “champion for democracy” while signing a book of condolence at Pakistan’s embassy in Washington, she added: “The way to honour her memory is to continue the democratic process in Pakistan so that the democracy that she so hoped for can emerge,”

The country was braced last night for even worse violence after Ms Bhutto’s burial in the family mausoleum in the town of Larkana, in Sindh province. Approximately 100,000 weeping and wailing supporters attended her funeral, many of them chanting anti-Musharraf slogans.

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