Scotland Yard team arrives in Pakistan

A five-member Scotland Yard team has arrived in Pakistan to investigate assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto

Islamabad, Jan 4 : A five-member Scotland Yard team has arrived in Pakistan to investigate assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto

British detectives will hold a meeting with Interior Ministry, sources said.

They will also visit and examine the scene of the crime at Liaqat Bagh in Rawalpindi.

Scotland Yard might seek an autopsy of Benazir Bhutto's body, for which permission would be sought from her husband, Asif Ali Zardari.

The team's arrival follows President Pervez Musharraf televised address to the nation indicating that a special team of Scotland Yard would be visiting Islamabad to assist Pakistan in its probe into the December 27 assassination of Bhutto in a gun and suicide attack.

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

This comes amidst mounting pressure from the 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.

ANI