Benazir said she was planning her return to Pakistan this year to help stabilise the country in the face of the extremist threat.

"The Red Mosque was just a warm-up for what will happen if the religious schools are not disarmed," Benazir told the newsweekly Focus.

She added that Islamist extremist leaders were plotting an overthrow of President Pervez Musharraf's government and had converted madrasas in Pakistani cities into military headquarters with well-stocked arsenals.

A suicide bombing during protests Friday at Islamabad's pro-Taliban Red Mosque killed 14 people in the 13th suicide blast to hit the country since a bloody army raid on the Red Mosque on July 10.

The bomber targeted officers policing Islamic students who had occupied the mosque to demand that their jailed former cleric should lead prayers after its chaotic reopening Friday.

The government has denied reports that Musharraf held a secret meeting with Benazir in Abu Dhabi in a bid to arrange a power-sharing pact to steady his position.

Benazir Bhutto, who has lived in self-imposed exile since 1998 in London and Dubai because of corruption claims against her, said there were ongoing talks with Musharraf about her possible return to Pakistan.

She could be jailed on the charges upon re-entering the country, which she said she plans to do by December.

"But I will go back regardless of whether the talks with Musharraf are successful or not," Benazir said, adding that she would seek protection against prosecution from Pakistani courts.

"I am doing what I must because my country is mired in a deep political crisis."

She said she would fight Musharraf before the country's highest tribunal if he tried to win a new term from the old parliament before new elections are held.

"The army must stop governing the country. The military must respect decisions of the government and be held accountable before the parliament," Benazir said.