Shocking news but probably should not be considered surprising: Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, returned from exile, has been killed. She was shot, reportedly in the chest and neck, by a suicide bomber who then blew himself up.

People who oppose the smiling General Musharraf have a habit of turning up dead, as did people who stood between the general and headship.

Update:

A quick skim discovers that the CNN piece about Bhutto's assassination might as well have been composed by Musharraf. Their way of saying that she and her family members have repeatedly been targeted for assassination: "Bhutto Had Turbulent History."

"Bhutto, 54, spent eight years in self-imposed exile in Great Britain and Dubai after President Farooq Leghari dismissed her second administration amid accusations of corruption, intimidation of the judiciary, a breakdown of law and order, and undermining the justice system.

She was found guilty of corruption and sentenced to five years in prison. The conviction was later overturned but she remained in exile until this year.

She returned to Pakistan in October after President Pervez Musharraf signed an amnesty lifting corruption charges.

She narrowly escaped injury on October 18 when a suicide bombing near her convoy in Karachi killed 126 people." [et cetera.]

2nd Update: The price of oil has already jumped as markets react to the news of Bhutto's assassination and quoted comments that it will increase unrest in Pakistan.