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Journalism of Courage
A top Pakistani police official on Sunday accused an Al Qaeda-linked militant of orchestrating the deadly attack on former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, saying police had “solid evidence” of his role in the killing.
US and Pakistani officials had indicated they suspect Baitullah Mehsud of masterminding Bhutto’s death on December 27 in a gun and suicide bomb attack after an election rally in Rawalpindi. The head of the team investigating the killing said evidence pointed to Mehsud.
“We have arrested five people in connection with the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, and they have told us that Baitullah Mehsud had approved the plan to kill her,” Chaudhry Abdul Majeed told reporters. Majeed identified Bhutto’s attacker as Saeed alias Bilal, saying he had met with Mehsud weeks before the attack on Bhutto, according to a detainee who had traveled to troubled South Waziristan.
Majeed said he had “solid evidence” to back up their claim, and added that two other men, Qari Ismail and Nasrullah, who had links with Bhutto’s killer, had died in a shootout with security forces in another tribal area of Pakistan in January.
