Scotland Yard probe: Bhutto died from impact of blast, not bullets

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A Scotland Yard inquiry in the assassination of Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto found that she died from the impact of a suicide bombing, not bullets fired at her moments earlier as she left a political rally, a US newspaper reported Friday. British officials were to release a summary later Friday of a report on the probe into Bhutto's Dec. 27 death. The New York Times quoted officials familiar with the report as saying that Scotland Yard investigators concluded she died after hitting her head as she was thrown by the force of the blast. They also determined that the attack was carried out by a single person who blew himself up after opening fire, not by two as authorities had originally reported, the newspaper said. The finding supports the Pakistani government's contention that Bhutto suffered a fatal head wound when she hit her head after the blast. Opponents of President Pervez Musharraf, many of whom suspect a broad conspiracy, have been highly skeptical of that theory, which is seen as minimizing the government's responsibility for a security breach that allowed the gunman to get close to Bhutto.