Bhutto was killed by single assassin, say investigators

[Satyagrahi]

Source: The Observer

Pakistani security officials investigating the killing of Benazir Bhutto believe it was carried out by a single assassin with a gun and a bomb. Investigators have concluded that the man who fired at least three shots at her also detonated the suicide bomb that exploded a second later.

One of the principal pieces of physical evidence is his severed head. Plastic surgeons have reconstructed the face and printed the picture in two national newspapers, offering 10 million rupees (£78,000) for information leading to his identification.

A police officer has said he started running towards the gunman when he saw him raise his arm. 'He got there just too late, and he saw him lower his head just before the blast,' a senior Pakistani source said. 'That is what the suicide bombers have been told to do to obliterate their features.' In this case, however, the tactic appears to have failed.

A second man with a beard and shawl, captured in pictures of the assassination, turned out to be an innocent bystander.

Read more: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2235968,00.html

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This seems to clash with the claims made in a call by Taleban leader Baitullah Mehsud that two men were directly involved in the attack, according to the transcript provided by the Pakistani government:

"BM: Congratulations to you, were they our men?

MS: Yes they were ours.

BM: Who were they?

MS: There was Saeed, there was Bilal from Badar and Ikramullah.

BM: The three of them did it?

MS: Ikramullah and Bilal did it."
http://www.dawn.com/2007/12/29/top13.htm

[Warren Stupidity]

1. according to the transcript provided by the Pakistani government

Well that would be because the P)akistani government wrote the transcript when they thought there were two assassins.

How many lies have they been caught in so far?

[jmondine]

2. So it was a lone assassin who fired three bullets

Hmm... where have I heard that before?

[hlthe2b]

12. Thank heavens Sen. Specter was there to aid with the theory...

Explaining lone gunmen doing evil, yet miraculous things, are his area of expertise, afterall...

[regnaD kciN]

3. ...and he was a "lone nut," right?

:eyes:

[bemildred]

9. Yep, a "deranged loner" no doubt. Nothing political about it. nt

[Ian David]

4. Breaking: Pakistani Government says Bhutto killed by slipping and falling in the shower. n/t

[panzerfaust]

7. I heard it was the stairs, she fell down the stairs.

[ReadTomPaine]

18. She would never have been killed if that tiger enclosure was up to code!

Oh ... wait...

[arcos]

5. I thought it was caused by a single lever? nt

[ReadTomPaine]

17. They seem the change the story daily....

[soothsayer]

6. Everyone knows Oswald acted alone.

[TheWatcher]

16. Yes, of course they do.

How much do you get paid to speak for the entire country on this?

I hope you aren't a cheap date. :eyes:

[fascisthunter]

8. Nah, It Was a "Magic Bullet"

:crazy:

[ohio2007]

10. SO who blew up the assasin? A second "spitter" ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gcaq4ElAJrE&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Peg_Jrak-JI

[gratuitous]

11. I thought it was Tom Mooney and Warren Billings?

This is beginning to sound like the Preparedness Day frame-up of 1916, wherein a bomb exploded during a parade, killing 10 people. The prosecution theory of the case went from a coordinated attack between two men who had never met (Mooney and Billings), then to a lone attacker when a photograph showing Billings was blocks away just before the bomb went off, to finally settling on the absurdity that Mooney or Billings had actually thrown a bomb with a timing device at the parade marchers. That is to say, why wouldn't a bomber just plant a bomb with a timing device beforehand? But the prosecution had to come up with a story that convicted both Mooney and Billings, accounted for the various and conflicting eyewitnesses, and excused the misconduct of law enforcement in investigating the bombing.

Similarly, why would someone equipped with a bomb also bring a gun? And how could this person be sure that Bhutto would, on the spur of the moment, decide to leave her rally in an open car? And assuming that the killer, armed to the teeth with an explosive device and a gun, just lucked into this happenstance, wasn't he taking an awful chance of being discovered in the crowd before he could get close enough? Or was he just a very prepared assassin, considering that the last bomb attack on Bhutto had failed to kill her? And if George W. Bush can pre-emptively round up suspected troublemakers and herd them off to "First Amendment Zones" far away from the action, why didn't Musharraf provide even that small measure of security for Bhutto?

Things just look worse and worse for Bush's good buddy in the Global War on (Some) Terrorism.

[villager]

13. always, always, always a "lone nut" with no connection to anyone, anywhere

just an astonishing coincidence they are always there to subvert history for the already-powerful....

[Warpy]

14. I was a skeptic at first, those sure didn't sound like gunshots

but the French film clearly showed the muzzle fire just before the explosion.

As for two assassins being involved, that's entirely possible. That would mean they had a fail safe plan with assassins stationed along different parts of her route, hoping she'd stick her head out of that sunroof to wave at the crowd or that the explosion would be close enough to kill her inside the limo.

Musharraf has been protecting the religious nutbars in the north of the country since this whole thing started, preventing US forces from crossing over from Afghanistan to capture them. Bhutto was the enemy of both groups, Musharraf and his secret police and the religious militants. Both groups had the most to gain from her death. While it is possible one group would have acted alone, it is highly unlikely.

[TheWatcher]

15. Well, why not?

The same explanation has fooled this country for 44 years, why not trot it out again for this?

Maybe it was one of Oswald's cousins.