Bhutto party downbeat on assassination probe

Scotland Yard forensic experts investigating the assassination of Pakistan's opposition leader Benazir Bhutto are unlikely to discover who killed her, her supporters said today.

Their comments came after her son and political heir appealed for a United Nations probe into the murder.

The Yard team arrived in Pakistan last week amid controversy over how Ms Bhutto died in the gun-and-bomb attack and allegations by opposition parties that allies of Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf may have played a role.

"We will co-operate with the team from Scotland Yard, but we don't think it will reveal the true facts," said Farhatullah Babar, a spokesman for Ms Bhutto's political party, adding that only an independent investigation would be able to unmask who orchestrated the attack.

Officers from the team have so far examined the car that Ms Bhutto was travelling in when she was attacked, interviewed witnesses and scoured the crime scene, but have made no public statement. They had yet to interview people travelling with Ms Bhutto when the attack occurred, Babar said.

Ms Bhutto's murder on December 27 in the garrison town of Rawalpindi, close to the capital Karachi plunged Pakistan, a key ally of the US in its war on terror, even deeper into political crisis at a time when it is battling militants linked to al-Qaida and the Taliban movement.

The government blamed the attack on the militants and initially said Ms Bhutto was killed when the force of the blast slammed her head into a lever on the sunroof of her car. The opposition blamed elements of the ruling party and said she was killed by gunfire.

Mr Musharraf, who has denied any involvement in the killing, met members of the British team yesterday and told them they were free to conduct their probe and "no one will interfere in their affairs", Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said.

Ms Bhutto's son, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, told reporters in London that only a UN investigation into her death would satisfy him.

"We do not believe that an investigation under the authority of the Pakistani government has the necessary transparency," said Mr Zardari, who was chosen chairman of his mother's party in the wake of her death.

"Already so much forensic evidence has been destroyed."

Hours after the attack on Ms Bhutto, firefighters with high-pressure hoses washed down the scene, a move that Mr Musharraf has since called a mistake.