Pakistani militants deny hand in suicide attack on Bhutto

Oct 20, 2007, 9:38 GMT

Following the suicide bombing that killed 139 people and injured more than 500 in Karachi October 18, funeral ceremonies were held for policemen who were killed on duty on 19 October 2007 in Karachi. Two suicide bombers attacked the convoy of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairwoman, former prime minister and opposition leader Benazir Bhutto who had only hours ago returned to homeland after eight years of exile. EPA/NAEEM UL HAQ

Islamabad - Pro-Taliban militants in Pakistan's tribal areas bordering Afghanistan have denied that they had attacked former prime minister Benazir Bhutto with two bombs that killed 139 people and injured more than 500, media reports said Saturday.

'We cannot even think of killing innocent people,' said a spokesman of the militant commander Baitullah Mehsud, who was accused of threatening Bhutto with suicide attacks.

Two explosions ripped through the crowd flanking Bhutto's vehicle on Thursday midnight as she was leading a procession of her supporters, hours after she arrived in Karachi from Dubai to end an eight-year self-imposed exile.

Authorities said a single attacker first threw a grenade to break through the security cordon and then exploded the suicide jacket containing around 15 kilograms RDX explosive as he got near the especially modified truck with its bulletproof rostrum, where Bhutto was resting.

Local media had reported Mehsud saying early this month that the liberal leader would be welcomed with suicide attacks because of her support for United States, against which they are fighting in Afghanistan.

'We don't accept President General Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto because they only protect the interests of the US,' he was cited by the Daily Times as telling a member of parliament, Saleh Shah.

Many Islamic extremist groups are believed to be enraged by a recently brokered power-sharing Musharraf-Bhutto deal, which Washington believes would maintain stability in the nuclear-armed state, and heighten the fight against rising militancy in the volatile tribal regions.

Several government officials, including Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao, pointed finger at Mehsud following the deadly attack.

Mehsud reportedly has a following of 35,000 tribal fighters, including a squad of trained suicide bombers, who launch cross border attack on international forces in south-west Afghanistan.

'Our jihad (holy war) is directed only against US and its allies,' Mehsud's spokesman Isa Khan told the daily News, adding that the threats attributed to the militant commander was the result of misreporting.

However, he warned that pro-Taliban forces had adopted a wait-and- see policy towards Bhutto and would be responding appropriately only if she took some practical step to force them out of tribal region Waziristan, as she had vowed in her some recent statements.

'Ours is a struggle for implementation of Islam and Sharia in Wairistan that is there to continue and any hurdle in the process would not be tolerated,' Khan said.

Mehsud has also been engaged in fighting with Pakistani forces after he scrapped a 2005 peace deal with the government under which he was obliged to deny shelter to Afghan Taliban and al-Qaeda terrorists.

Currently, he is holding over 200 Pakistan soldiers, who were surrounded and disarmed in tribal district of South Waziristan on August 30.

The liberal opposition leader also suspects Islamic militants' involvement in the blasts, but she has also blamed some elements with Musharraf's government that might have staged the attacks.

'I am not accusing the government. I am accusing people, certain individuals who abuse their positions. Who abuse their powers,' she said, adding that she had passed three names of the suspected ringleaders of those who are out to kill her.

Bhutto has not disclosed the names but some media reports claim the three men were: Ijaz Shah, the head of the civilian spy agency Intelligence Bureau and two old political rivals and chief ministers of Punjab and Sindh provinces, Chaudhry Pervez Elahi and Arban Ghulm Rahim, respectively.

All three are believed to be very close to Musharraf, who took power in a bloodless military coup in 1999.

However, the police were satisfied with the ongoing investigations into the incident.

'We are working on several pieces of evidence we collected from the site, including the head of a suspected bomber,' Karachi police chief Azhar Farooqi told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. The sketch of the partly damaged head has already been released to the media.

The devastating attacks have raised fears over prospects of forthcoming general elections to be held in January 2008.

The chief of ruling Pakistan Muslim League, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, urged the government to ban rallies during the election campaign.

Prime minister Shaukat Aziz told reporters on Friday that elections would be held on schedule.