A team from Britain's Scotland
Yard probing the assassination of former premier Benazir
Bhutto will submit its report to the Pakistani authorities
this week.
The three-member team of British detectives arrived at
the airport here on a British Airways flight this morning.
They were received by officials of the British High Commission
and whisked away amidst tight security.
A strong police contingent escorted the British team,
which refused to talk to waiting journalists.
Pakistani officials said the team will submit a report on
its findings in Bhutto's murder to the Interior Ministry this
week.
A group of forensic, computer and explosives experts from
the Counter-Terrorism Command of Britain's Metropolitan Police
had come to Pakistan on January 4 after President Pervez
Musharraf sought Scotland Yard's help to probe Bhutto's
assassination.
Bhutto was killed in a suicide attack after addressing an
election rally in Rawalpindi on December 27. Musharraf blamed
Pakistani Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud of masterminding
the assassination, but the militant leader denied the charge
through his spokesman.
Last month, Pakistani authorities in the northwestern
town of Dera Ismail Khan arrested 15-year-old Aitezaz Shah,
who claimed he was part of a five-member suicide squad sent by
Mehsud to target Bhutto. Authorities are currently trying to
corroborate his claims.
The Scotland Yard team spent a little more than two weeks
in the country, during which the British experts visited the
site at Liaquat Bagh in Rawalpindi where Bhutto was attacked,
reviewed forensic and technical evidence and questioned
eyewitnesses and doctors who treated her.
They also reconstructed the attack on Bhutto several
times.
Caretaker Interior Minister Hamad Nawaz Khan has said
that the government had asked the British team to submit its
report before the February 18 general election. He also said
the report would be made public.
According to the terms of the agreement between the
British and Pakistani governments, the Scotland Yard team was
asked to ascertain the exact cause of Bhutto's death. This had
become a matter of controversy after Pakistani authorities
initially suggested she had died after striking her head
against the sunroof of her armoured vehicle.
The Pakistan People's Party and media reports, however,
said she died of bullet wounds. Musharraf later admitted that
it was possible that Benazir might have been shot.
The PPP has sought a UN-led probe into her death but the
government has rejected this. The PPP also said only a UN-led
inquiry would expose the "hidden hands" behind Bhutto's
assassination.