UN condemns Bhutto assassination, says it threatens international peace

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
The UN Security Council vigorously denounced the killing of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, describing her death Thursday as a serious blow to stability in the region and demanding justice for "this reprehensible act." The council's members emerged downcast and stern-faced from a two-hour emergency session, most of it conducted behind closed doors, to issue a unanimously approved statement saying the council "condemns in the strongest terms" Bhutto's assassination at a campaign rally. "Terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security," said the council, which urged "all Pakistanis to exercise restraint and maintain stability in the country." Italy's UN Ambassador Marcello Spatafora, this month's president of the 15-member council, said it sought "to flag what are unacceptable acts" that threaten to destabilize the region. "There are no words for condemning this kind of act."