Pakistan questions teenager in Bhutto case
Authorities questioned a 15-year-old boy who has confessed to be part of the team that killed opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.
By Agencies |
ISLAMABAD: Authorities were questioning a 15-year-old boy on Sunday who has confessed to be being part of the team that killed opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, marking what could be the first major break in the investigation.
Security forces meanwhile were guarding mosques and other holy sites across the country as its Shiite minority prepared to mark the festival of Ashoura, which in the past has been marred by attacks from Sunni extremists.
Interior Secretary Kamal Shah said two people had been arrested in the town of Dera Ismail Khan in North West Frontier province. He said one a teenage boy had confessed to involvement in the December 27 gun and suicide bomb attack that killed Bhutto.
Both were being questioned with a view to corroborating the confession, he said.
A senior intelligence official said the 15-year-old told investigators that his five-person squad was dispatched to Rawalpindi, where Bhutto was killed, by Baitullah Mehsud, a militant leader with strong ties to al-Qaida and an alliance with the Taliban in nearby Afghanistan.
Authorities have already blamed Mehsud for organizing the killing.
The official, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the boy was arrested Thursday.
Bhutto's assassination triggered days of unrest that left 40 dead and thrust Pakistan into deep political crisis at a time of surging attacks by al-Qaida and Taliban militants. The violence comes as the country prepares for Feb. 18 polls that many predict will weaken President Pervez Musharraf's grip on power.
Bhutto, who had returned to Pakistan in October after spending nearly eight years in exile, had vowed to support tough military measures against Islamic militants who have used the border areas as staging points for infiltration into Afghanistan.
Sunni extremists, who regard Shiites as heretics, often attack the community during Ashoura.
On Thursday, 11 people died and 20 were injured in a suicide attack on a Shiite mosque in the northern city of Peshawar.
In the far southern city of Karachi, the police chief said officers detained five men with explosives, detonators and a small quantity of cyanide intended for attacks on Ashoura.
``With these arrests we have foiled major attacks,'' police chief Azhar Farouqi said, adding that the militants may have wanted to put the cyanide into the municipal water supply.
Security officials elsewhere in the country said they had arrested at least 55 other terrorist suspects in a crackdown apparently sparked by a surge in rebel attacks along the restive border with Afghanistan.
Security forces meanwhile were guarding mosques and other holy sites across the country as its Shiite minority prepared to mark the festival of Ashoura, which in the past has been marred by attacks from Sunni extremists.
Interior Secretary Kamal Shah said two people had been arrested in the town of Dera Ismail Khan in North West Frontier province. He said one a teenage boy had confessed to involvement in the December 27 gun and suicide bomb attack that killed Bhutto.
Both were being questioned with a view to corroborating the confession, he said.
A senior intelligence official said the 15-year-old told investigators that his five-person squad was dispatched to Rawalpindi, where Bhutto was killed, by Baitullah Mehsud, a militant leader with strong ties to al-Qaida and an alliance with the Taliban in nearby Afghanistan.
Authorities have already blamed Mehsud for organizing the killing.
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The official, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the boy was arrested Thursday.
Bhutto's assassination triggered days of unrest that left 40 dead and thrust Pakistan into deep political crisis at a time of surging attacks by al-Qaida and Taliban militants. The violence comes as the country prepares for Feb. 18 polls that many predict will weaken President Pervez Musharraf's grip on power.
Bhutto, who had returned to Pakistan in October after spending nearly eight years in exile, had vowed to support tough military measures against Islamic militants who have used the border areas as staging points for infiltration into Afghanistan.
Sunni extremists, who regard Shiites as heretics, often attack the community during Ashoura.
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On Thursday, 11 people died and 20 were injured in a suicide attack on a Shiite mosque in the northern city of Peshawar.
In the far southern city of Karachi, the police chief said officers detained five men with explosives, detonators and a small quantity of cyanide intended for attacks on Ashoura.
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``With these arrests we have foiled major attacks,'' police chief Azhar Farouqi said, adding that the militants may have wanted to put the cyanide into the municipal water supply.
Security officials elsewhere in the country said they had arrested at least 55 other terrorist suspects in a crackdown apparently sparked by a surge in rebel attacks along the restive border with Afghanistan.
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