Hundreds of thousands of mourners gather as Bhutto is buried at family mausoleum

People crammed inside the cavernous hall, throwing petals on the coffin. Some cried, others chanted "Benazir is alive," as her body was laid to rest. One man sobbed uncontrollably, crying, "My sister has gone." Another fainted as several thousand people jostled to get a last glimpse.

An Islamic cleric led mourners in prayers as her plain wood coffin, draped in the red, green and black flag of her Pakistan Peoples Party was placed in a grave inside the vast, white marble mausoleum in southern Sindh province near the Bhuttos ancestral home.

Bhuttos son, Bilawal, and her husband Asif Ali Zardari, who wore a traditional white Sindhi cap and appeared composed, helped lift the coffin down into the grave.

A vast crowd congregated outside, lined up in hundreds of rows for the prayers and began filing in to throw sand on the grave. They had arrived by tractors, buses, cars and jeeps that were parked in dusty fields surrounding the mausoleum in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh, where Bhuttos father, former Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto is also buried.

Some Bhutto supporters shouted "General, killer!" "Army, killer" in apparent reference to President Pervez Musharraf, who recently retired as army chief after eight years of military rule. Party leaders tried to pacify the crowd and urged them to stop.

The coffin was carried in a white ambulance on the five-kilometer (three-mile) journey to its resting place. On the road, the ambulance passed a railway crossing where a passenger train had been set alight by rioters enraged by Bhuttos assassination Thursday had gone on a rampage. The engine was still burning.

Signboards that had been erected two months ago to mark Bhuttos return from exile to Pakistan still dotted the route. On one, someone had scrawled, "Benazir you are the hope for the poor."

In front of the mausoleum, with its three domes, mourners wept and hugged each other. Some chanted slogans against figures in the pro-government political party, as they waited for the coffin to be shifted inside. Others shouted, "As long as the moon and sun are alive, so is the name of Bhutto."

Zulfiqar Bhutto, who formed the party and is an iconic leader in Pakistans troubled 60-year history, was executed in 1979 during the military regime of the late dictator, Gen. Zia ul-Haq, after he was convicted of conspiring to murder a political rival.

Benazir Bhutto visited the mausoleum in October to pay respects at her fathers grave, days after she narrowly escaped another suicide attack on her homecoming parade in Karachi, that killed more than 140 people. The ambulance passed over a ramp that was built for that visit.

People who gathered for Fridays funeral repeatedly chanted slogans against the former top elected officials in Sindh and Punjab provinces, who are members of the ruling, pro-Musharraf party. Bhutto supporters suspect those officials were complicit in attacks on the opposition leader - which the government denies.

"We Sindhis do not want Pakistan anymore. Why is it only Sindhi prime ministers are assassinated or killed?" said Rehmatullah, 25, who goes by one name, referring to the demise of the Bhuttos and countrys first prime minister, Liaquat Ali Khan, who was shot to death in 1951. All three died in Rawalpindi where Pakistans army has its headquarters.

"Now we will bring revolution," Rehmatullah said.

Another mourner disagreed.

"No we need Pakistan. It was BBs mission to protect Pakistan and we will complete her mission," said Eman Ali Shah.

Bhutto, whose party has long been popular among Pakistans legions of poor, served two terms as prime minister between 1988 and 1996. Both elected governments were toppled amid accusations of corruption and mismanagement. She had been vying for a third term if her party fared well in Jan. 8 parliamentary elections.

Bhutto was a domineering presence in her party, and there is no clear successor to the leadership. Her husband, who was freed in December 2004 after eight years in detention on graft charges, is one contender to head the party although he lacks the cachet of a blood relative.