Pakistani security officials investigating the killing of Benazir Bhutto believe it was carried out by a single assassin with a gun and a bomb. Investigators have concluded that the man who fired at least three shots at her also detonated the suicide bomb that exploded a second later.
One of the principal pieces of physical evidence is his severed head. Plastic surgeons have reconstructed the face and printed the picture in two national newspapers, offering 10 million rupees (£78,000) for information leading to his identification.
One of the principal pieces of physical evidence is his severed head. Plastic surgeons have reconstructed the face and printed the picture in two national newspapers, offering 10 million rupees (£78,000) for information leading to his identification.
A police officer has said he started running towards the gunman when he saw him raise his arm. 'He got there just too late, and he saw him lower his head just before the blast,' a senior Pakistani source said. 'That is what the suicide bombers have been told to do to obliterate their features.' In this case, however, the tactic appears to have failed.
A second man with a beard and shawl, captured in pictures of the assassination, turned out to be an innocent bystander.
The government is sticking to its assertion that the assassination was ordered by Baitullah Mehsud, an Islamic militant with al-Qaeda links from south Waziristan. US and British officials have said that an intercepted satellite telephone conversation in which Mehsud offers congratulations to a fellow militant for the killing appears credible.
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