Five-member squad assigned to kill Bhutto: Pak police
A five-member squad of militants was assigned the task of targeting slain former premier Benazir Bhutto because she might have allowed foreign forces to act against mujahideen and Taliban if she came to power in Pakistan's general election, a top police official said on Wednesday.
This was disclosed by two men, Hasnain Gul and Rafaqat, who were arrested for alleged involvement in Bhutto's assassination, said Additional Inspector General of Police Abdul Majeed, who is heading the special police team probing the opposition leader's killing.
"The motive behind the attack was that Mohtarma Bhutto was coming back to Pakistan with the backing of foreign powers, and if she won the polls, she may have allowed foreign forces to take action against the mujahideen and Taliban," Majeed said.
Addressing a press conference late on Wednesday after Gul and Rafaqat recorded their confessional statements before a judicial magistrate in Rawalpindi, Majeed said Bhutto's assassination was planned in November last year.
Majeed identified the two suicide attackers who were part of the five-member squad as Bilal alias Saeed and Ikramullah.
Bilal was the man who fired shots at Bhutto after she addressed an election rally at Liaquat Bagh in Rawalpindi on December 27 and then blew himself up near her armoured car, he said.
Less time to read?
Try Quickreads
-
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla tests positive for Covid with mild symptoms
Pfizer Inc. Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said Bourla tested positive for Covid-19 and is receiving Paxlovid, the treatment made by his company. Bourla said he's feeling well although experiencing very mild symptoms, according to a statement Monday. Bourla said he is “isolating in place as well as following all public health precautions” and that he's confident of a speedy recovery. The New York-based drugmaker declined to comment beyond Bourla's statement.
-
China holds more military drills as US lawmakers meet Taiwanese president
China has carried out fresh military drills near self-governed Taiwan in response to the ongoing visit of US lawmakers to the island as high tension, sparked earlier this month by the visit of US House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, to Taipei, continues in the Taiwan Strait. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and says official ties between the island and another country is a violation of the mainland's sovereignty.
-
Ikea shoppers in Shanghai panic after security locks down store on Covid risk
Health authorities in the financial hub said that they imposed “temporary control measures” at the store, after they found out that a close contact of a 6-year-old boy with an asymptomatic Covid infection had been there. They didn’t say when the close contact was in the store.
-
Deposed Myanmar leader Suu Kyi sentenced to 6 more years in prison
Myanmar's deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced to six more years in prison on Monday in a judgment that could further anger supporters of the 77-year-old Nobel peace prize laureate. It's the fourth round of criminal verdicts against Suu Kyi since the military seized power in a 2021 coup and brings her total jail term to 17 years, extinguishing any chance of her staging a political comeback while the junta remain in power.
-
On completion of one year in power, Taliban says, “This day is the day of…”
The Taliban marked a year in power on Monday with small-scale celebrations by the group's fighters as Afghanistan struggles with rising poverty, drought, malnutrition and fading hope among women that they will have a decisive role in the country's future. "This day is the day of the victory of truth over falsehood and the day of salvation and freedom of the Afghan nation," said Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid in a statement.
