Bhutto got off the stage after addressing the rally and started moving towards her car. Her vehicle moved a certain distance and she was surrounded by party supporters. She came out of the car and just then two attackers with AK 47s pumped her with bullets, one in the neck and two in the head. After shooting, a third attacker blew himself up near Benazir's car.
Benazir was declared dead at 6.16 pm local time at a Rawalpindi hospital, 40 minutes after she was taken in. The attack also killed more than 20 people and left several others injured.
Nawaz Sharif described Benazir Bhutto's assassination as the most tragic incident in the history of Pakistan.
''I myself feel threatened,'' says Sharif, whose party temporarily suspended the electioneering in the wake of the assassination.
Bhutto is survived by her husband Asif Ali Zardari and three children. Before she returned to Pakistan in October, Benazir Bhutto told that she was not afraid of the threats.
In October some 130 people were killed in an attack on Bhutto's cavalcade when she returned to the country.
Benazir was the first female PM in the Muslim world. Three days of national mourning has been declared. The national flag will be flown at half mast.
It was one of the worst incidents of violence in a year of deteriorating security in Pakistan.