BREAKING: Benazir Bhutto Assassinated, UPDATE: Al-Qaeda Leader Admits They Were Behind It

Former Prime Minister of Pakistan, and the first female leader of a Muslim nation, Benazir Bhutto was killed this morning in an attack by a suicide bomber.

Bhutto was shot in the neck and chest by the bomber, seconds later the bomber blew himself up and killed 20 others in the process. This attack comes with only a little over a week before the January 8th Parliamentary elections in Pakistan, where Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party was expected to do well because of their wide base of support throughout the country.

This bloody massacre is the latest in a string of events that has left Pakistan teetering on the brink of chaos and anarchy. Pakistan is a key ally of the United States in the Global War on Terror, especially in neighboring Afghanistan, and a nuclear weapon-possessing country.

This event will have global repercussions, as Bhutto was a key figure in the Muslim world and this will surely upset those who supported her and galvanize those who opposed her.

UPDATES...

- Minutes after Bhutto was announced dead, Bhutto supporters at the hospital erupted in anger and changed "Killer, Killer, Musharraf" in reference to Bhutto's political opponent, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.

- The last photo taken of Bhutto before her death.

- There was also another attempted attack today against another anti-Musharraf leader, Nawaz Sharif, that was thwarted by police. Also revealed in this article is the fact that Islamic militants have had it out for Bhutto, due to her support for women's rights, secular politics, and the American war on terror.

- State Department, President Bush both condemn the slaying of Bhutto.

- Live coverage on Sky News. The scene can only be described as mass anger and violence.

- Some blog reactions, courtesy of the Times Online. Also, a list of the main suspects who could be behind this.

- Reactions from 2008 Presidential hopefuls.

- AP: Musharraf administration states Al-Qaeda is behind attacks. Musharraf also makes a plea for peace in the nation.

- Al-Qaeda commander Mustafa Abu Al-Yazid claims that they indeed were behind this attack.

- D.J. McGuire has an excellent analysis regarding Bhutto's assassination, how things got to this point, and what it means for Pakistan in the future.

Today In History: Nail In The Coffin for the Cold War

Today, in 1991, the last attempt by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union to retain control and unity of the USSR began.

"The August Coup" was a failed attempt to dispose of Mikhail Gorbachev from the presidency of the Soviet Union. The conspirators were led by Soviet Vice-President Gennady Yanayev and other hard-liners within the party, who felt that Gorbachev's reforms had led the half-broken state of the union. The conspirators detained Gorbachev in his dacha in the Crimera, and announced that he was ill, and that Yanayev was now in control of the Soviet Union. Independent media outlets were cut off the air.

Reformers, led by Russian President Boris Yeltsin, stood up to the coup and the attempts to increase the Party's control over the nation and put an end to the freedoms created by several years of glasnost and perestroika.

This was the final nail in the coffin for the Soviet Union, and the final end to Mikhail Gorbachev's political career in Russia as Boris Yeltsin became the predominant political figure in Russia after the failed coup.

Read the Wikipedia article on the failed coup of 1991.