Special report: Benazir Bhutto assassinated

Profile: Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto  

Factbox: Bhutto latest victim of terrorism in Pakistan

    WASHINGTON, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. intelligence agencies were still investigating whether al-Qaeda terrorists had been behind the assassination of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, the White House said on Friday.

    "There have been many claims of responsibility. Our intelligence community is still looking into it," White House spokesman Scott Stanzel told reporters at Crawford, Texas, where President George W. Bush's family is spending their New Year holiday.

    Pakistan Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema told a news conference on Friday that they have intercepted intelligence indicating Baitullah Mehsud, al-Qaeda leader based in the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border, was behind the killing of Bhutto.

    Bhutto, 54, was killed in a suicide bombing on Thursday when she was leaving an election rally in Rawalpindi. More than 20 others also died and nearly 60 were injured in the attack.

    She served twice as Pakistan's prime minister between 1988 and 1996. After living in exile for 8 years, she returned to Pakistan on Oct. 18. A suicide attack at her homecoming parade in Karachi took more than 140 lives.

    Stanzel said on Thursday that the suicide bombing employed to assassinate Bhutto was an al-Qaeda tactic.

    "Whoever perpetrated this attack is an enemy of democracy and has used a tactic which Al-Qaeda is very familiar with, and that is suicide bombing and the taking of innocent lives to try to disrupt a democratic process," he added.   

 

Bush holds security meeting on Pakistan

    WASHINGTON, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President George W. Bush held a meeting of his national security advisors on Friday to discuss the situation in Pakistan in the wake of the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said.

    "The president received a briefing from the intelligence community as well as from United States Ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson, who is in Islamabad," Stanzel said, adding that the meeting was held through secure videoconference as Bush is vacationing in his ranch in Crawford, Texas. 

Al-Qaeda claims responsibility of Bhutto's assassination

    BEIJING, Dec. 28(Xinhuanet) -- A spokesperson of Al-Qaeda has Thursday claimed responsibility for the killing of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto, Italian independent news agency Adnkronos International (AKI) said.     

    "We terminated the most precious American asset which vowed to defeat the mujahadeen," Al-Qaeda's commander and main spokesperson Mustafa Abu Al-Yazid told AKI in a phone call from an unknown location.

Musharraf announces three-day mourning for Bhutto

    ISLAMABAD, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf announced here Thursday night that the nation would have three-day mourning for Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who was killed in a suicide attack near the capital Islamabad earlier Thursday.

    In his nationwide speech through the state-run PTV, Musharraf asked the nation to keep peaceful.