World media says Pakistan now in 'nightmare scenario'

Fears of major unrest and civil war in nuclear-armed Pakistan were widely expressed by international media Friday after the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.

"Bhutto's killing threatens Pakistan with political chaos," said the front-page headline in the International Herald Tribune.

The killing of the former premier, who had staged a political comeback after returning from exile to fight in elections next month "is a disaster for a country that is already flirting with state failure," said the Financial Times, the British business daily.

The "violent death leaves a hole in national politics and adds a vicious extra dimension of disintegration to a country that is already falling apart after decades of civilian and military misrule," it said in an editorial.

Italy's Corriere della Sera said "Pakistan is becoming an ever bigger atomic time bomb" and highlighted fears that the military could take back power after the death of Bhutto, who was killed by a suicide bomber on Thursday.

Jordanian newspaper Al Dustour said "Bhutto's assassination is a terrible act that paves the way for a civil war in Pakistan, the country was already facing a difficult time because of religious, ethnic and political reasons."

"All indications show that Pakistan will go into a dark and a difficult stage." AFP