Scotland Yard: Bhutto Died From Blast
Investigators Uphold Pakistan's Claim That Opposition Leader Did Not Die From Gunshots(CBS/AP) Scotland Yard investigators on Friday upheld Pakistani government findings that opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was killed by the force of a suicide bombing, dismissing her party's claim that the former prime minister died from gunshots moments earlier.
Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party immediately rejected the British findings and repeated its demand for a U.N. investigation into the Dec. 27 assassination. Party leaders want a broader, independent investigation because of their suspicions that political allies of President Pervez Musharraf may have been involved.
The outcome of the investigation was likely to further sharpen the divide between Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Musharraf’s government. The PPP insists Bhutto was killed by the twin effect of a gunshot wound and the shock of the suicide blast close to her jeep, just as she was leaving a political rally in Rawalpindi, reports CBS News reporter Farhan Bokhari.
The death of the two-time prime minister sparked violent unrest across the country and forced a six-week delay in parliamentary elections, now set for Feb. 18. The continuing dispute over exactly how she died is likely to prolong Pakistan's political turmoil.
In a report released 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.
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