Bhutto Died From Head Injury in Blast, Scotland Yard Says

The former Pakistani opposition leader, Benazir Bhutto, died of a head injury and not bullets fired at her in a suicide attack by a lone terrorist, a British police report said today.

Home Office pathologist Dr Nathaniel Cary was quoted in a Scotland Yard report as saying "the only tenable cause" for Bhutto's fatal head injury was the impact of the blast that went off as she waved to supporters from her vehicle at an election rally.

"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 Scotland Yard report, released by the British high commission in Islamabad, appears to support the theory put forward by the Pakistani government at the time. But her supporters immediately disagreed with the findings, insisting she died from a bullet.

"She died from a bullet injury, this was and is our position," said Sherry Rahman, a spokeswoman for Bhutto's party.

Today's report, following a two-and-half week investigation, found 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 of a separate bomber as well as the gunman.

"In essence, all the evidence indicates that one suspect has fired the shots before detonating an improvised explosive device," the report said.

Scotland Yard said 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 had relied considerably on X-rays and detailed examination of video footage of the attack, it said.

The Pakistani opposition leader was killed on December 27 in Rawalpindi, a garrison city near the capital, Islamabad, after returning from nearly eight years of self-imposed exile.

Her assassination triggered widespread violence and forced the postponement of parliamentary elections, scheduled for last month, until February 18.

Pakistani investigators yesterday arrested what they described as two "very important" suspects in what was claimed to be a breakthrough in the hunt for Bhutto's killers.

The Pakistani government and the CIA suspect a pro-Taliban leader, Baitullah Mehsud, of plotting the assassination. Mehsud, based in a tribal region on the Afghan border, has denied involvement.

Last month, authorities arrested 15-year-old Aitezaz Shah, saying he had admitted being a back-up suicide bomber for Bhutto assassin. Shah and his so-called "handler", Sher Zaman, were captured in the north-western city of Dera Ismail Khan.

The Pakistani president, Pervez Musharraf, invited Scotland Yard to help after Bhutto supporters said the government could be covering up the circumstances of her death. Musharraf has rejected calls from Bhutto's party for a UN investigation.

Before her death, Bhutto said political allies of the president were plotting to kill her, and despite government denials many of her supporters maintain this.

About 10,000 mourners gathered at Bhutto's tomb yesterday today to mark the end of a period of mourning. Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party, now led by her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, is to resume campaigning at a rally tomorrow.