who killed her
2 more held over Bhutto assassination
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) — Pakistani police have arrested two suspects over the assassination of former prime minister and leading opposition figure Benazir Bhutto. The two suspects, named only as Rafaqat and Hasnain, were arrested in Rawalpindi — a garrison city outside Islamabad, where Bhutto was killed, the police official said. No other details on their arrests were immediately available. Pakistani investigators looking into Bhutto’s December 27 killing are being assisted by a small team from Britain’s Scotland Yard.
Police are still holding Aitzaz Shah, 15, and a man named Sher Zaman, who were detained last month in Dera Ismail Khan in Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province. Pakistani officials have been vague on Shan and Zaman’s links to Bhutto’s killing, and said they have not been named official suspects. Pakistan’s government has concluded that Bhutto’s assassination was orchestrated by Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban who has ties to al Qaeda — a conclusion that the CIA came to as well. Bhutto was killed while standing in an moving armored car after rallying supporters for parliamentary elections.
The vote, originally scheduled for early January, was postponed until Feb. 18 in the wake of her death. Her head was above the sunroof and unprotected at the time of the attack. advertisement The cause of her death is not clear: a bomber blew himself up near Bhutto’s limousine, and videotape showed a gunman apparently firing shots toward her — but no autopsy was carried out at the family’s request. Bhutto’s family and party have accused Musharraf’s government of having a role in her death, and have criticized the security provided to her by the government. Musharraf has denied any involvement in her death. (CNN)
CIA agrees with pakisthan On who Killed Bhutto
WASHINGTON (CNN) — The CIA believes extremists associated with a Pakistani tribal leader are responsible for the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, according to a U.S. intelligence official. The official, who spoke under condition of anonymity, said the agency concluded that Baitullah Mehsud — the leader of the Pakistani Taliban who has ties to al Qaeda — was behind the attack. The Pakistani government was quick to blame Mehsud’s organization for Bhutto’s death in December, producing an intercepted audio communication in which Mehsud confirmed his men were responsible for the attack.
The U.S. intelligence community was first cautious about drawing the same conclusion as the Pakistanis. But after reviewing various other intelligence, the CIA agreed Mehsud played a role in Bhutto’s killing, the U.S. official said. The CIA viewpoint was first made known in a Washington Post interview with CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden published Friday. “This was done by that network around Baitullah Mehsud. We have no reason to question that,” Hayden told the newspaper. Mehsud operates out of the tribal areas of northwestern Pakistan. Pakistani officials have blamed Mehsud’s forces for a number of attacks directed against the government, including one this week in which Islamic militants overran a military outpost in South Waziristan. U.S. officials and terrorism experts are increasingly worried about the stability of Pakistan.
The Pakistani Taliban and al Qaeda have drawn closer ideologically over the past couple of years and see themselves at war with the Pakistani state, CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen said at a conference at a Washington think tank Wednesday. He pointed to the growing number of attacks against Pakistani government officials and the ISI, the country’s intelligence service. Also at the New America Foundation conference, the organization’s president, Steve Coll, indicated al Qaeda and the local insurgency are gathering strength as the government of President Pervez Musharraf is weakening. Hayden praised Musharraf’s cooperation in the war on terror, but also said the militants in Pakistan are a “serious base of danger to the current well-being of Pakistan.” A U.S. intelligence official said the stepped-up campaign by the extremists creates a “challenging environment” for the Pakistanis, but indicated the Musharraf government is “increasingly cognizant” of the problem it faces. (CNN)