``He's unconscious and bleeding from the mouth,'' said Pakistan People's Party (PPP) spokesman Akbar Mirza while talking to mediapersons in Karachi, adding Zardari's condition was probably related to an ulcer and not to the injuries he received yesterday in what police said was a suicide attempt.

Police said yesterday that Zardari suffered neck and wrist injuries when he tried to commit suicide but Bhutto and PPP officials have accused the police of beating up Zardari.

A close friend of Zardari said today that Zardari accused his jailers of torturing him and was refusing to eat out of fear that he may be poisoned. Zardari has requested food from outside but the authorities have refused.

Former defence minister in Bhutto's government, Aftab Shaban Mirani, met Zardari late yesterday. Mirani told mediapersons that Zardari denied that he attemptedsuicide.

Zardari's neck was red and swollen and there was a bandage on his neck beneath his left ear, said Mirani. He was weak, his clothes disheveled and his eyes bloodshot, he added.

Scores of police and several police vehicles have been deployed outside the detention centre where dozens of Bhutto's supporters have been protesting.

A meeting with Zardari and his father, Hakim Zardari, was held late yesterday in a stark cement room in the Criminal Investigation Agency centre in southern Karachi, said Mirani.

Mirani said the men spoke in whispers throughout the 15-minute visit to prevent nearby guards from overhearing their conversation, he said.

According to Mirani, Zardari told him: ``I am being tortured and they keep asking me questions for which I have no answers. They haven't let me sleep in three days.''

Zardari was transferred to the Aga Khan Hospital in Karachi early today, in keeping with a Sindh High Court ruling earlier this week.

In a statement from the United Arab Emirates, Bhuttohas accused Sharif's government of trying to murder her husband. The PPP has called for a strike throughout Bhutto's home province in southern Pakistan tomorrow.