Bhutto visits ancestral village

Ms Bhutto read prayers near her father's grave

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has visited her ancestral village near Larkana in southern Sindh province, amid heavy security.

It was her first trip outside Karachi since nearly 140 people were killed in an assassination attempt last week.

The attack came within hours of her arrival in Pakistan after eight years of self-imposed exile.

At her home village, Ms Bhutto prayed at the tomb of her executed father, former PM Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.

Ms Bhutto was greeted by about 4,000 supporters who chanted "Long Live Bhutto" and cheered as she arrived in a bullet-proof vehicle after driving from the nearby city of Sukkur.

It's so moving for me to finally be here and to be able to pray at his grave Benazir Bhutto In pictures: Bhutto visits father's tomb

At the mausoleum, she offered prayers at the grave of her father, reading from the Koran and spreading flower petals.

"It's so moving for me to finally be here and to be able to pray at his grave and the grave of my young brothers who lost their lives in the prime of their youth.

"My father used to say that the people of Pakistan are my political heirs -- they are my sons and daughters," she said.

Dozens of activists from Ms Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP), some armed with AK-47s, guarded her father's tomb and kept away crowds in order to prevent a repeat of the bombings in Karachi.

Activists cordoned off the area near the tomb and refused access even to police, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

Larkana, where the Bhutto family are large landowners, is Ms Bhutto's power base, says the BBC's Barbara Plett in Islamabad.

As part of a large landowning family, the bedrock of her support is impoverished peasants who expect to benefit from her return, our correspondent says.

Ms Bhutto has vowed to stay in Pakistan despite the attack and campaign in the parliamentary election scheduled to be held by January.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf granted Ms Bhutto an amnesty from corruption charges that allowed her to return to Pakistan.

She has been negotiating with Gen Musharraf over a possible power-sharing deal.