New chief investigator appointed in Bhutto blast probe

A new chief investigator has been appointed to probe the suicide attack on opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, after she claimed the previous officer was complicit in the torture of her husband in 1999, an official said Thursday. Saud Mirza, the chief of criminal investigations at Karachi, will now head the five-man team probing last week's bombing of Bhutto's homecoming parade that killed 136 people, said Ghulam Muhammad Mohtarem, the home secretary of Sindh province. "There is no other change in the team," Mohtarem said. The Sindh police chief replaced the previous chief investigator, Manzar Mughal, after Bhutto, back from eight years in exile, claimed Mughal had been present while her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, was tortured in custody on corruption charges in 1999.