NEW DELHI, Dec 27: Indian leaders led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed shock and outrage at assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto on Thursday, saying her slaying by a suspected suicide bomber in Rawalpindi was a reminder of the dangers stalking the subcontinent.

“I was deeply shocked and horrified to hear of the heinous assassination of Ms Benazir Bhutto,” the prime minister said in a statement from Goa.

“Ms Bhutto was no ordinary political leader, but one who left a deep imprint on her time and age. Her contributions to a previous moment of hope in India-Pakistan relations, and her intent to break India-Pakistan relations out of the sterile patterns of the past, were exemplary. In her death, the subcontinent has lost an outstanding leader who worked for democracy and reconciliation in her country,” Dr Singh said. He added that 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.”

Information Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunshi said Ms Bhutto’s murder at an election rally was similar to the killing of former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi by a woman suicide bomber near Chennai in May 1991.

Indian opposition leader Lal Kishan Advani expressed a “deep sense of disbelief, shock and grief” at Ms Bhutto’s death.

“Ms Bhutto has become a martyr to the cause of defence of democracy and the global war on jihadi terrorism... She was a friend of our family and she sincerely desired friendly and peaceful relations between India and Pakistan,” Mr Advani said in a statement.

He said that the killing indicated that Pakistan is not only in the throes of instability but a far more dangerous process of Talibanistion. “The enormously sinister implications of this development for India, in our own fight against jihadi terrorism, cannot be overstated.”

Mr Advani spoke to the Indian prime minister about the assassination.

“I suggested to him that he should immediately convene a meeting to brief leaders of opposition parties about the deeply worrisome developments in Pakistan and also Nepal. I thanked him for accepting the suggestion.”

Congress party president Sonia Gandhi said she was grieved by the loss of a charismatic woman leader of the subcontinent.