PanARMENIAN.Net
Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for Benazir Bhutto assassination
28.12.2007 16:26 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ An al-Qaeda leader based in
Afghanistan has claimed responsibility for the
assassination of former Pakistan Premier Benazir
Bhutto, whom he described as "the most precious
American asset."
"We terminated the most precious American asset which
vowed to defeat (the) `mujahadeen’," al-Qaeda
Commander and spokesman Mustafa Abu Al-Yazid told the
Italian news agency Adnkronos International (AKI) in a
phone call from an unknown location.
Al-Yazid was described by AKI as the "main al-Qaeda
commander in Afghanistan". It reported that the
decision to kill Bhutto was made by al-Qaeda No. two,
Ayman al-Zawahiri in October.
The report said death squads were allegedly
constituted for the mission and one cell comprising a
"Punjabi volunteer" of the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi killed
Bhutto.
Bhutto died after being shot by a suicide attacker,
who later blew himself up near her armored vehicles
just after she had addressed an election rally at
Rawalpindi near here. The blast killed nearly 30
people.
During her campaign to drum up support for her
Pakistan People’s Party, Bhutto had repeatedly
attacked elements who were fomenting extremism and
militancy in northwestern region of the country and
vowed to crack down on militant groups.
Bhutto, who returned to Pakistan from exile two months
ago, had earlier survived a suicide attack on her
homecoming procession in Karachi on October 18 that
killed 140 people and injured hundreds more.
Baitullah Mehsud, a militant leader who was recently
made head of Tekrik Taliban-e-Pakistan – a coalition
of Pakistani Taliban groups, had reportedly issued
threats that he would send suicide bombers to target
Bhutto, Expressindia reports.