U.N. council calls for restraint in Pakistan

By Patrick Worsnip and Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council denounced the assassination of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto on Thursday as a "heinous act of terrorism" and called on all Pakistanis to exercise restraint.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon separately condemned the killing in the city of Rawalpindi as an "assault on stability" in Pakistan.

"The Security Council condemns in the strongest terms the terrorist suicide attack by extremists," said a formal statement read out by Italian Ambassador Marcello Spatafora, current council president, at a specially convened meeting.

"The Security Council pays tribute to former prime minister Bhutto. The Security Council calls on all Pakistanis to exercise restraint and maintain stability in the country."

The statement by the 15-nation council called for the "perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of this reprehensible act of terrorism" to be brought to justice.

Ban's statement said he was shocked and outraged by the assassination, which "represents an assault on stability in Pakistan and its democratic processes." Ban attended the council meeting although he does not usually do so.

Bhutto was killed in a gun and bomb attack as she left an election rally in Rawalpindi.

"This is a question of calling all Pakistanis to exercise restraint and to go on working for the stability of the country," Spatafora said after the council meeting.