A TOP Pakistani Taliban commander has been formally charged with plotting the murder of former premier Benazir Bhutto and declared an absconder today, police said.Baitullah Mehsud, an al-Qaeda-linked militant commander based in the tribal area of South Waziristan, is accused by the Pakistan government and the US CIA of masterminding the assassination.
"We have submitted preliminary charges against Baitullah Mehsud in connection with Benazir Bhutto's murder in an anti-terrorism court Rawalpindi," a senior police official said. "The court has declared Mehsud and four other suspects absconders in the case and issued non-bailable warrants for their arrest," the official said but declined to give further details.
| "I will say no more!" |
Police say two of the men already being held over the assassination, Hasnain Gul and Rafaqat, who goes by one name, confessed before a court on Wednesday to plotting the attack. It was said to have been carried out to avenge Government raids on a radical mosque in the capital Islamabad, which killed more than 100, mostly militants.