Scotland Yard team to aid Pak in Benazirs assassination probe

A special team of Scotland Yard will soon be visiting Islamabad to assist Pakistan in its probe into the December 27 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in a gun and suicide attack.

Islamabad, Jan 2 : A special team of Scotland Yard will soon be visiting Islamabad to assist Pakistan in its probe into the December 27 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in a gun and suicide attack.

President Pervez Musharraf disclosed this in a televised address to the nation this evening.

Musharraf thanked British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for accepting his request for assistance from the UK's coveted investigative agency.

This comes amidst mounting pressure from International community and leaders about the need for an international inquiry into the assassination after Islamabad's claim that Benazir was not shot, but died because she hit her head on the sunroof of her SUV.

The government's claim has been rejected by her party leaders, eyewitnesses and the surfacing of new clips that show Benazir ducking after the assassin shot her.

There were earlier reports that Musharraf has sought British assistance in the probe, but Benazir's husband and co-chairman of Pakistan Peoples Party have demanded a UN probe into it, on the lines of the probe that was conducted into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

The Pakistani Government had to face much criticism after it was found that the scene of the suicide and gun attack that left 29 people dead apart from Benazir was washed with water within hours of the incident.

There were also criticisms that the autopsy of the former premier was not carried out properly, and there were allegations that doctors had to change their medical reports under government's pressure.

ANI