Was it an assassination attempt?

Zimbabwean prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai has been released from hospital after suffering minor injuries in a car crash that killed his wife.

The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader was applauded by onlookers as he was driven away from the private clinic in Harare. He is flying to Botswana for treatment and rest, his party said.

Susan Tsvangirai died yesterday when the 4x4 she was travelling in with her husband was struck by a lorry on roads south of the capital Harare.

Mrs Tsvangirai, 50, reportedly died at the scene from injuries sustained in the crash.

It has emerged that the driver of the lorry, which belonged to an aid partner agency of the US state department, was asleep at the wheel at the time of the crash.

Earlier, party officials in neighbouring South Africa said the crash may not have been an accident.

The prime minister's MDC party has played down rumours that the crash was orchestrated by Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party, which only last month entered into a power-sharing agreement that allowed Mr Tsvangirai to take the oath of office.

But officials in the party's South African branch have raised the spectre of a possible assassination attempt upon the country's prime minister.

"We suspect that this is not a genuine accident and we appeal to Zimbabweans in South Africa to remain calm as facts continue to surface," a statement said.

"We strongly believe that these are the evil acts of a few individuals bent on derailing the progress of the inclusive government.

In a reference to the death of Zanu-PF military leader Josiah Tongogara on the eve of independence in 1979 the statement added: "We are, however, alive to the fact that a lot of Robert Mugabe's opponents died in suspicious road accidents involving army trucks."

Mr Mugabe visited Mr Tsvangirai in hospital to express his condolences today, with state television showing the prime minister in a neck brace.

Mrs Tsvangirai was not actively involved in her husband's politics but supported him at rallies.

The couple, who had been married for 31 years, have six children.