Scotland Yard Weighs In on Bhutto’s Death

If Benazir Bhutto’s supporters were hoping that a Scotland Yard investigation into the former prime minister’s death would contradict the Pakistani government’s findings, they’re bound to be disappointed by Thursday’s reports that the British police agency pieced together a similar account of her Dec. 27 assassination. 

The New York Times:

Investigators from Scotland Yard have concluded that Benazir Bhutto, the Pakistani opposition leader, died after hitting her head as she was tossed by the force of a suicide blast, not from an assassin’s bullet, officials who have been briefed on the inquiry said Thursday.

The findings support the Pakistani government’s explanation of Ms. Bhutto’s assassination in December, an account that had been greeted with disbelief by Ms. Bhutto’s supporters, other Pakistanis and medical experts.

Also on Thursday, the Pakistani government announced the arrest of two more suspects in connection with the assassination but gave few other details.

Thousands of Ms. Bhutto’s supporters gathered in her hometown in southern Pakistan, marking the end of a 40-day mourning period.

Read more

AP photo / Wally Santana

A Pakistani woman grieves Bhutto’s death at the end of the traditional 40-day period of mourning on Thursday in Islamabad.