Benazir Bhutto buried a day after assassination

The funeral has taken place of former Pakistani PM Benazir Bhutto, 24 hours after she was murdered in a gun and bomb attack in Rawalpindi. Thousands gathered at the mausoleum in Nau Dero, where Bhutto was laid to rest next to her father.

Elsewhere in Pakistan, another politician has been killed in an explosion. A candidate for the party that supports President Pervez Musharraf  was killed along with three others in a blast at an election meeting.

Thousands of supporters packed the streets of Benazir Bhutto's home town of Nau Dero for her funeral.

Al Qaeda claimed it was behind Thursday's attack, according to TV in Pakistan.

Bhutto was shot in the chest and neck by a suicide bomber, just weeks after her return to run in the upcoming election.

The assassination put nuclear-armed Pakistan into shock and threw the campaign for January's election into chaos, sparking a wave of violence across the nation.

There were widespread reports of clashes with police, raids on banks and damage to property. Police, according to some sources, have been given permission to open fire on violent protesters.

January's election plans have been thrown into chaos, with many experts doubting they will go ahead on time.

Another opposition leader Nawaz Sharif has already announced his party will boycott the poll.

RT military analyst Evgeny Khrushchev said “The usual suspects benefit from Bhutto's death – AL Qaeda and the Taliban, plus, which is not a big surprise – General Musharraf himself.”

Meanwhile Benazir Bhutto's friend and adviser Wajid Shamsul Hasan says Pakistan could witness civil conflict and more political murders.

“She was the only leader who was keeping the country together. She had support in the four provinces of the country. Nobody is going to gain anything out her death. I dont't rule out the possibility of civil war, I dont't rule out the possibility of more assassinations,” he said.

Evgeny Satanovsky from Moscow's Institute for Middle East Studies says the situation in Pakistan could become “really unpredictable” if Musharraf doesn't keep a firm grip on power.

He suggests that Pakistan is at risk of becoming an unstable nuclear-armed state.