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Bhutto’s followers in UAE in mourning

DUBAI - Supporters of slain Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto in the United Arab Emirates expressed shock and grief after she was assassinated in suicide attack on Thursday.

“I’m so sad. I feel that my own sister is dead,” said Zubeir Bashir, Middle East spokesman for Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party.

“This is a big tragedy for Pakistan. This is a very big shock for us,” he told AFP by telephone he headed to the Bhutto family home in Dubai -- chosen by the former prime minister as a residence during her eight years in exile.

Bashir said that members of Bhutto’s family who had remained in Dubai after her return to her homeland in October were already on their way to Pakistan.

Mohammed Akran Farooqi, the PPP’s leader in the UAE, choked with emotion as he tried to express his grief over the killing of Bhutto during a rally in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi.

“I can’t say anything... I’m totally upset,” he said between sobs.