Second suspect in Bhutto death plot arrested

PAKISTANI officials said a second suspect had been arrested in connection with a plot to kill former premier Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated last month.

Security officials said the man had been detained along with a teenager — 15-year-old Aitezaz Shah — whose arrest was announced earlier. Both were being questioned by investigators.

They were arrested in the north-western city of Dera Ismail Khan while allegedly planning a suicide bombing over the Muslim festival of Ashura, the security officials said.

Shah told interrogators he had been part of a back-up team of three bombers who were tasked with killing Ms Bhutto if the original December 27 attack by two men had failed.

Interior Secretary Syed Kamal Shah confirmed yesterday that the arrests — the first in connection with Ms Bhutto’s assassination — had been made and investigations were continuing.

“Yes they were arrested from Dera Ismail Khan and they are being investigated,” he said.

“We are looking into all aspects and we are not saying anything unless it is corroborated through investigations,” Mr Shah said when asked if both had given some clues about Ms Bhutto’s assassination.

Ms Bhutto was killed in a gun and suicide bomb attack at an election rally in Rawalpindi. Pakistan’s government and the CIA have blamed al-Qaida and tribal warlord Baitullah Mehsud for her death.

Ms Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party last Wednesday sent an appeal to the UN requesting it investigate her murder and expressing no confidence in the ability of the Pakistani agencies investigating the murder.