An Islamic militant who is accused of helping carry out the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto wanted to avenge the death of a friend in the military attack last year, a senior police officer said Wednesday.| A statement that may very well contain some truth in it, but most certainly not the *whole* truth. |
Husnain Gul and his cousin, identified only as Rafaqat, were arrested last week in the Dec. 27 death of Bhutto. The senior policeman leading the murder investigation, Chaudhry Abdul Majeed, told reporters that Gul began preparing for the attack | when his handler ordered him to go see Mahmoud the Martyrmaker and tell him "Big Tony would like a cannoli with extra mascarpone." |
in November. His friend had been killed in military operations against Islamic militants holed up inside Islamabad's Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, in July. "Their motive for attacking Bhutto was that she was coming to Pakistan at the behest of a foreign power," Majeed said.Majeed would not speculate on the mastermind of the assassination. U.S. and Pakistani officials suspect the attack was ordered by Baitullah Mehsud, an al-Qaida-linked extremist in northwest Pakistan. | "See this little plastic ring sticking out of my back? If you pull on it, I say 'Dire Revengeￜ' in Urdu, Pashto, Arabic and Yorkshirese!" |
Four people, including a 15-year-old boy, have been arrested in the probe. Majeed said a fifth suspect is being sought but he refused to elaborate.| "He was s'posed to call when he made it to the safe hou...er, I mean I can say no more!" |
Majeed said that Gul and his cousin told investigators details of the plot against Bhutto. Based on that testimony, Majeed said police have learned that two assailants were stationed at a pair of gates to the park where thousands of Bhutto supporters had gathered. Majeed said the two suicide bombers spent the night at Gul's home in Rawalpindi | Listening to Malcolm X speeches and watching beheading videos |
on the eve of the attack. Gul also drove the two bombers to the public park where the attack occurred, Majeed said. The primary assailant was identified only as Saeed, who was using the alias Bilal. Majeed said Bilal opened fire with a pistol and then detonated explosives hidden beneath his clothing, fatally injuring Bhutto. The other assailant, identified only as Ikramullah, was to have attacked Bhutto if she had escaped the first blast. With the first bomb proving fatal, Ikramullah left Rawalpindi the next morning, Majeed said, without saying where. |