Scotland Yard submits report on assassination of Pakistan's Bhutto

Feb 8, 2008, 6:47 GMT

Islamabad - An investigation team from Britain's Scotland Yard submitted Friday a much-anticipated preliminary report on the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto to her family and the Pakistani government.

The report's contents were due to be released by Pakistan's Interior Ministry Friday afternoon.

The New York Times said in a report Friday that Scotland Yard concluded Bhutto died after cracking her head on the sunroof of her security vehicle after she was hit by the force of a suicide explosion as she waved to supporters following a campaign rally on December 27.

The Times report said Bhutto did not die from a gunshot wound despite being fired on at close range by an attacker with a pistol seconds before the explosion, confirming government claims made hours after the blast.

Embattled Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf sought the assistance of Britain after Bhutto's family and supporters rejected the government's claims and demanded an independent inquiry by the United Nations.

'The British inquiry also determined that a lone gunman, whose image was captured in numerous photographs at the crime scene, also caused the explosion,' a Pakistani official told the newspaper.

Bhutto's family has refused to give much weight to Scotland Yard, saying it was only working within the terms and references set by the Pakistani authorities that limited it to assisting in analyzing forensic evidence.

The Pakistani government has accused Baitullah Mehsud, a Taliban commander in the country's tribal areas who is allegedly linked to al-Qaeda, of masterminding the gun and suicide bombing attack, as well as dozens of other suicide bombings against security forces in the past year.