RAWALPINDI, Pakistan —  Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday in a homicide attack that also killed at least 20 others at a campaign rally.

Bhutto was shot in the neck and chest as she was entering her vehicle, and then the bomber blew himself up.

The former prime minister died in Rawalpindi General Hospital, where she had been rushed to surgery. She was 54.

"At 6:16 p.m. she expired," said Wasif Ali Khan, a member of Bhutto's party who was at the hospital.

Her supporters at the hospital began chanting "Dog, Musharraf, dog," referring to Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf.

Some of them smashed the glass door at the main entrance of the emergency unit, others burst into tears. Top party leaders were outside the hospital, crying.

One man with a flag of Pakistan People's Party tied around his head was beating his chest.

Sen. Babar Awan, Bhutto's lawyer, said, "The surgeons confirmed that she has been martyred."