World | Pakistan
Al Qaida militant denies involvement in Bhutto killing
Benazir Bhutto's aide accuses government of cover-up as Al Qaida militant denies involvement in the assassination.
- Agencies
- Published: 11:27 December 29, 2007
- Image Credit: Reuters
- A Pakistani soldier stands guard as Pakistan's national flag hangs at half mast at the Pakistani embassy in Kabul.
Peshawar: Al Qaida-linked Pakistani militant Bailtullah Mehsud did not assassinate opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, his spokesman said on Saturday.
"I strongly deny it. Tribal people have their own customs. We don't strike women," Mehsud said through his spokesman Maulvi Omar.
The government said on Friday that it recorded an intercept in which Mehsud, on the most wanted list, had congratulated his men for the attack.
"We have intelligence intercepts indicating that Al Qaida leader Baitullah Mehsud is behind her assassination," said Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema.
Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party rejected the official explanation, and blamed President Pervez Musharraf for failing to protect Bhutto.
"The government is nervous," a spokesman said. "They are trying to cover up their failure" to provide adequate security.
Pakistan's Interior Ministry also falsified earlier reports by saying that Bhutto did not die from gunshot wounds on Thursday but that she was killed after smashing her head on her car's sunroof while trying to duck.
Bhutto's senior aide, Farooq Naik, called the explanation a "pack of lies". "Two bullets hit her, one in the abdomen and one in the head," he said.
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