Special report: Benazir Bhutto assassinated

Profile: Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto  

Factbox: Bhutto latest victim of terrorism in Pakistan

    ISLAMABAD, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan People's Party (PPP) has welcomed the call by U.S. Speaker of the House for international probe in the assassination of former Prime Minister Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and for free and fair elections in Pakistan, News Network International news agency reported on Friday.

    The spokesperson of the PPP, former Senator Farhatullah Babar said that the party would tenaciously pursue demand for a UN probe and had already sent letters to the UN Secretary General and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.

    Bhutto was killed in a gunshot and suicide bombing attack on Dec.27 when she was going out of a park in Rawalpindi in which she addressed a campaign rally.

    Speaker of the House of the U.S. Nancy Pelosi on Thursday demanded "strong international investigation of this despicable crime" and asked the Bush Administration to "continue to press the Pakistani government to ensure that the coming election is free and fair", citing "the tremendous contribution of Benazir Bhutto to the cause of democracy."

    Earlier presidential hopeful Senator Hillary Clinton had also called a "full, independent, international investigation."

    Some Scotland Yard experts have been assisting Pakistan in probing the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. They are expected to unveil the cause of Bhutto's death in a report.