Security Council urges calm following ‘reprehensible’ terrorist attack in Pakistan

Condemning the deadly terrorist attack that killed former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and at least a dozen others in the northern city of Rawalpindi, the United Nations Security Council called on all Pakistanis to show restraint in the wake of today’s tragedy.

In a statement read out by Ambassador Marcello Spatafora of Italy, which holds the Council’s rotating presidency for this month, the 15-member body paid tribute to Ms. Bhutto, leader of the Pakistan People’s Party, and called for all those behind the suicide attack to be brought to justice.

The Council also called on all Pakistanis “to exercise restraint and maintain stability in the country.”

The Council’s statement echoes the condemnation issued earlier today by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon who called the assassination of Ms. Bhutto “an assault on stability in Pakistan and its democratic process.”

Speaking to reporters after the Council meeting, Mr. Ban welcomed its condemnation of the attack as “a very appropriate measure by the Security Council.”

The former leader was previously targeted in October during an attack on her convoy in the southern city of Karachi that killed over 100 people.