Bhutto died trying to duck from blast: ministry

Pakistan's interior ministry says that Benazir died from hitting her vehicle's sunroof when she tried to duck after a suicide attack.

Pakistan's interior ministry said on Friday that Benazir Bhutto died from hitting her vehicle's sunroof when she tried to duck after a suicide attack, and that no bullet or shrapnel was found in her.

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Ministry spokesman Brigadier Javed Cheema said the opposition leader had died from a head wound she sustained when she smashed against the sunroof's lever as she tried to shelter inside the car.

"The lever struck near her right ear and fractured her skull," Cheema said. "There was no bullet or metal shrapnel found in the injury."

But he said intelligence services had intercepted a call Saturday from the man considered to be Al-Qaeda's top figure for Pakistan, Baitullah Mehsud, congratulating a militant after Bhutto's death.

He said there was "irrefutable evidence that Al-Qaeda, its networks and cohorts are trying to destabilise Pakistan".