Front Page   

“Blast impact wound killed Benazir”

Benazir Bhutto

ISLAMABAD: Scotland Yard’s much awaited report on the assassination of Benazir Bhutto supports the government’s theory that the former Prime Minister died of an injury she sustained when her head hit the roof-opening of her car as a result of the bomb blast. A summary of the report was released by the Pakistan government and the British High Commission on Friday.

The Pakistan People’s Party, which ended 40 days of mourning for its leader on Thursday, expressed scepticism about the findings, but said it was still studying the report and would give its final reaction later.

A spokesperson said the PPP believed Benazir died of a bullet, and reiterated the demand for an international investigation to uncover the “hidden hands” behind the death.

Quoting British Home Office pathologist Nathaniel Carey, the Scotland Yard report says “the only tenable cause for the rapidly fatal head injury in this case is that it occurred as the result of impact due to the effects of the bomb-blast.”

According to Dr. Carey, the wound on the right side of her head, which was the only apparent injury to her body, was not caused by a bullet.

The pathologist, who studied the x-rays of Benazir’s head, has said that in his opinion, “Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto died as a result of a severe head injury sustained as a consequence of the bomb-blast and due to head impact somewhere in the escape hatch of the vehicle.”

According to him, in the absence of a post mortem examination or a CT scan, he was unable to rule out that she received a bullet wound on her neck, but says it could not have been “a relevant factor in the actual cause of death, when set against the nature and extent of her head injury.”

The Scotland Yard report makes the point that the purpose-built escape-hatch of the vehicle was being misleadingly referred to as the sun roof. The escape hatch had a solid 9 cm lip, and Benazir’s injury is “entirely consistent” with her head impacting on this lip.

Scotland Yard has also categorically ruled out that the person who fired the shots and the suicide bomber were two different people. The report says media footage clearly shows that it was the same person. Only one body remained unidentified, and experts said it was that of the suicide bomber. No one in the vicinity of the blast could have survived, the report stated.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

“Blast impact wound killed Benazir”
Scotland Yard report on assassination of Benazir Bhutto
PPP may press for international probe
India seeks Amit’s deportation
New Delhi confident
Manmohan promises loan relief for farmers
Avalanches claim 17 more lives in Kashmir
Rajeswar blames Centre for lack of development
PIL in apex court seeks arrest of Raj Thackeray
Congress targets Advani again
“Development of U.P. not possible without Centre’s help”
Strategic ties with U.S. only at the cost of our support: Karat
Taslima hopes India will renew her visa
Irate farmers target Nitish
4 persons die of suspected anthrax
Decision on fuel price likely next week
India’s ODI side on the right track
Sharp Bracken makes it a no-contest
Bopanna, Istomin ensure parity
McGrane leads; erratic Indians lose their way
Putin vows fitting reply to new threat from West
Archbishop in row over Sharia
Claims of heavy casualties in Sri Lanka
Inflation rate crosses 4 per cent-mark
Caparo to build body structure for Tata Nano
IT, auto sectors get global recognition
Final photo poll rolls by March 5
Call to address challenges of Indian judicial system
South Chennai rentals go through the roof
Black balloons in U.P. House
State lands to be regularised
Plus Two students find power cuts nightmarish
Panel for cancellation of HMT deal
Students find power cuts nightmarish
China objects to PM’s Arunachal visit
Private players to get highways maintenance contract
Engineering college teams net patents
Milma milk to cost Rs.2 more a litre
CAT notice on Dilip Rau’s petition
Subhash Ghising meets Advani
Shah Jahan’s dagger to be auctioned
2,401 more houses to be built for tsunami-hit fishermen

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu