Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto changes mind, flying to Dubai

Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto changes mind, flying to Dubai

Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was traveling to Dubai on Thursday, just two weeks after she returned to Pakistan from an eight-year exile, airline and party officials said.

Bhutto's travel plans have become a source of confusion since her Oct. 18 homecoming was shattered by a bombing that killed 145 people.

Late Wednesday, the opposition leader said she was postponing a planned trip to see her family in the Arab emirate because she was afraid the Pakistani government would impose a state of emergency during her absence.

But Jamil Soomro, a spokesman at her residence in Karachi, said Bhutto had left to go to Dubai. An airport official confirmed she had boarded an Emirates flight scheduled to depart Karachi at 2:10 p.m.