UNITED NATIONS - World leaders expressed outrage yesterday over the assassination of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and concern about the stability of the nation as it struggles to uphold democracy and hold off terrorism.
In India, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he was "shocked and horrified to hear of the heinous assassination," and he called Bhutto, who had tried to improve relations between the countries, "irreplaceable."
"In her death, the subcontinent has lost an outstanding leader who worked for democracy and reconciliation in her country," Singh said.
"The manner of her going is a reminder of the common dangers that our region faces from cowardly acts of terrorism and of the need to eradicate this dangerous threat," he said.
President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, Pakistan's other close neighbor, had met with Bhutto in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, yesterday before she was killed.
Both countries are struggling with extremists who would like to return the region to fundamentalist Islamic rule with limited roles for women - the opposite direction that Bhutto represented.
Karzai said he was "deeply pained" by the murder of "this brave sister of ours, a brave daughter of the Muslim world."
"She sacrificed her life for the sake of Pakistan and for the sake of this region," he said.
In Britain, where Bhutto attended Oxford University and spent time in self-imposed exile, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said she "risked everything in her attempt to win democracy in Pakistan, and she has been assassinated by cowards who are afraid of democracy."
In New York, the UN Security Council convened in an emergency session to condemn the assassination. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the attack "an assault on stability in Pakistan and its democratic processes."
Before going into the Security Council meeting, US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, who knew Bhutto well, said he mourned the loss of his friend.
"A significant and courageous figure who became the first elected woman leader of an Islamic country, she believed in democracy and the rule of law while opposing extremism and terror," said Khalilzad, who was born in Afghanistan.
"A tribute to her memory would be lasting democracy in Pakistan - a worthy goal for that country and all the world."
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, in a letter to President Pervez Musharraf, called the attack an "odious act" and said "terrorism and violence have no place in the democratic debate and the combat of ideas and programs."
Sarkozy said Bhutto had paid "with her life her commitment to the service of her fellow citizens and to Pakistan's political life" and urged Pakistan's elections be held as scheduled.
The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Pope Benedict XVI was immediately informed of the "terrible news."
"One cannot see signs of peace in this tormented region," Lombardi said.
Italian Premier Romano Prodi said he was filled with grief and called Bhutto "a woman who chose to fight her battle until the end with a single weapon - the one of dialogue and political debate."
In Moscow, Anatoly Safonov, Russian President Vladmir Putin's envoy on international cooperation against terrorism, expressed fears the assassination would trigger violent repercussions.
"The already unstable situation in Pakistan will be further exacerbated by this powerful factor," Safonov said, according to the Interfax news agency.
Material from the Associated Press was included in this report.
