The death of former premier of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto was not caused by a bullet but by the force and intensity of the bomb blast, experts of a Scotland Yard team, which conducted an investigation into her death, have concluded.
“Due to the impact of the explosion, her head dashed into some part of the vehicle resulting in her death,” a report prepared by the team said. It was immediately rejected by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), which reiterated its demand for a probe by a UN commission on the pattern of investigations conducted into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. President Pervez Musharraf has turned down the demand, saying that the two cases are different.
The Scotland Yard team also concluded that the same attacker who exploded the bomb also fired shots shortly before that which did not hit Bhutto. The report was submitted to the interior ministry. While the government did not release the full report, the British High Commission in Islamabad issued a summary of the report.
Bhutto was killed on December 27 while she was leaving Liaqat
Bagh in Rawalpindi after addressing a rally.
Musharraf invited the team for investigation under intense international pressure. The team, which spent two weeks in Pakistan last month, investigated only the cause of her death but was assigned in its terms of reference to determine who killed her.
The team, in its report, however, discounted earlier speculations that at least three killers were involved who had no communication with each other. The report says: “In essence, all evidence indicates that one suspect has fired the shots before detonating an improvised explosive device.”
The summary is signed by detective superintendent John McBrayne. It said the blast caused a violent collision between her head and the escape hatch area of the vehicle, “causing a severe and fatal head injury”. The report apparently referred to the sunroof from where Bhutto waved to the crowd cheering her and raising slogans.
John McBrayne, however, noted that the team’s task was complicated by the “lack of an extended and detailed search of the crime scene, the absence of an autopsy, and the absence of recognised body recovery and victim identification processes.” However, the “evidence available is sufficient for reliable conclusions to be drawn,” McBrayne said.
Information secretary of the PPP Sherry Rehman, while rejecting the findings of the report, said the party believed Bhutto was killed by an assassin’s bullet.
