|
Murder shrouded in mystery
04/01/2008 16:38 - (SA)
Islamabad - Few in Pakistan believe police from Britain's Scotland Yard will be able to solve questions surrounding the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.
Much of the evidence has been destroyed and rival accounts of her death in a gun and suicide bomb attack on December 27 have already become a new political front in the battle between the government and her party.
Here is what is known about her murder:
Scene: Bhutto was standing through the sunroof of her car and waving to the crowd as she left a political rally in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, where she was campaigning ahead of general elections.
Gunman: A man armed with a pistol fired several shots from close range at Bhutto, who fell through the sunroof into the car. The government says three shots were fired.
Suicide bomber: Seconds after the gunman opened fire, a suicide bomber detonated his device just metres from the car, killing himself, the gunman and about 22 other people.
Cause of death: Unknown. The government says the shooter missed her and she died as a result of fracturing her skull against the lever of her vehicle's sunroof in the act of ducking for safety.
Bhutto's aides at the scene swore she was shot in the head, and the party continues to insist she died of gunshot wounds.
Autopsy: No autopsy was carried out as the family refused to give permission, saying it would be an insult to Bhutto and the government would fake the findings.
Doctors who briefly examined her body in the hours after the attack said she died of a head wound from an object which penetrated several inches into her skull behind the right ear.
But they said no shrapnel or bullet fragments were found in the body.
The government has offered to exhume the body and conduct an autopsy but the family says it will only agree if President Pervez Musharraf allows a UN-led inquiry into the murder, which he has ruled out.
Evidence: The scene of the crime was washed clean soon after the attack. The government says it recovered the head of the suicide bomber, but he and the gunman remain unidentified.
Several photographs and videos were taken at the time of the attack. However there are no known images which clearly show her being shot or hit by shrapnel.
The first video was released by the interior ministry, clearly showing an automatic pistol being held up from the crowd at close range, behind Bhutto and to her left, and fired.
Two muzzle flashes are visible but three shots can be heard. The shooting is quickly followed by a blast which ends the recording.
The next was released by Britain's Channel 4 television. It shows Bhutto's hair and scarf appearing to fly up after the shots are fired. She then falls to her right side and sinks into the car, shortly before the blast.
Suspects: The government says it intercepted a phone call from a top Al-Qaeda figure in Pakistan, Baitullah Mehsud, who was boasting that he was behind the attack. A spokesperson for Mehsud has denied any involvement.
The government has offered a reward for the identification of two men photographed in the crowd. One is a clean-shaven man wearing sunglasses, seen apparently pointing a pistol at Bhutto, while the other is bearded and has a white shawl over his head, possibly indicating a suicide bomber.
Bhutto was an outspoken critic of Al-Qaeda-linked militants and had received death threats from Islamist extremists.
But she had also accused elements of Pakistan's secret intelligence services of involvement in a suicide attack on her homecoming rally in October that left 139 dead and which she only narrowly escaped.
Musharraf has angrily denied any official involvement in Bhutto's murder, and has dismissed as a "joke" claims that military intelligence agents were behind it.
- AFP
|
News
