Scotland Yard agrees impact killed Bhutto but her party doesn’t buy it

In a report released on Friday by British authorities in Islamabad, Home Office pathologist Dr Nathaniel Cary said Bhutto suffered a massive injury on the right side of her head. Cary said the “only tenable cause” was the impact of the blast that went off as she waved to supporters from the hatch of her vehicle after addressing an election rally in Rawalpindi.

“In my opinion Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto died as a result of a severe head injury sustained as a consequence of the bomb blast and due to head impact somewhere in the escape hatch of the vehicle,” Cary said in the report.

The finding supports the Pakistani Government’s contention that Bhutto suffered a fatal head wound when she hit her head after the blast. Opponents of Musharraf, many of whom suspect a broad conspiracy, have been highly skeptical of that theory, which is seen as minimising the government’s responsibility for a security breach that allowed the gunman to get close to Bhutto.

The Scotland Yard report concluded there had been a single attacker: that the man who had fired the shots at close range toward Bhutto had also blown himself up. There had been earlier suggestions that a separate bomber had lurked behind the gunman.

“In essence, all the evidence indicates that one suspect has fired the shots before detonating an improvised explosive device,” the report said. It said the bomber was within one or two metres of Bhutto’s vehicle with no obstruction or person in between.

Pakistan’s government has said the attack was orchestrated by a top Taliban militant commander, Baitullah Mehsud, who has links to al Qaeda. Mehsud leads Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, a coalition of Islamic extremist groups fighting Pakistani forces in the lawless tribal area along the border with Afghanistan. On Wednesday, Mehsud’s coalition announced an indefinite ceasefire with Pakistani forces.

The Scotland Yard report said that despite the lack of a detailed search of the crime scene or autopsy of Bhutto’s body, “the evidence that is available is sufficient for reliable conclusions to be drawn.” Investigators relied considerably on X-rays and detailed examination of videos of the attack, it said.

The Pakistani police welcomed the findings. Senior police official Chaudhry Abdul Majeed, who is heading Pakistan’s own investigation, said they agreed with the Scotland Yard findings, adding that the attacker fired at Bhutto but missed.

Majeed confirmed that police had arrested two “important” suspects in the killing based on information from a 15-year-old boy apprehended last month in northwestern Pakistan. The boy told police he was part of a five-man suicide squad charged with assassinating Bhutto.

The two suspects, identified only as Husnain Gul and Rafaqat, appeared in court on Friday and were ordered held for 12 more days. Majeed said they appeared to have provided help to the bomber.