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Three questioned in Benazir Bhutto caravan bombing

Police questioned three men over the bombing of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto's caravan as her aides pressed authorities yesterday for a full investigation into the attack that killed at least 139 people and shattered her triumphant return from exile.

The men were linked to a vehicle that police believe was used by one of the attackers, who threw a grenade at the convoy late on Thursday, a senior investigator said on Saturday on condition of anonymity. The men were brought in for questioning on Saturday night.

Police detained the three men in southern Punjab Province -- a center for militancy -- and took them to Karachi, where the bombing occurred, for questioning.

The senior investigator said police believed the men, who have not been charged, hold crucial clues to the bombing.

Yesterday, Bhutto's top aides went to a Karachi police station demanding the bombing be investigated to the fullest.

The aides brought a statement, signed by Bhutto, asking that police "register the case and investigate so that the accused and their conspirators may be brought to book and punished according to the law."

Police officials said the case had already been registered.

However, the aides noted that police had not yet met with Bhutto to discuss the attack.

"The police never approached Benazir Bhutto," said Kaim Ali Shah, a top leader in Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples' Party.

The bombing was the deadliest in Pakistan's history, turning Bhutto's jubilant homecoming parade into a scene of carnage. At least 139 died and more than 200 were wounded.

On Saturday, Pakistan's government denied involvement in the attack, while sporadic violence flared in Karachi, a boisterous city of 15 million people.

Angry over the suicide bombing, supporters of Bhutto's party threw stones and burned tires in parts of the city.

Fourteen people were shot in a neighborhood that is one of her strongholds after outsiders mixed with Bhutto supporters. Police said the outsiders began firing shots.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said that the attack was unlikely to delay elections slated for January, but that the government would be alert for future attacks.

"I don't see the electoral pro cess being hindered ... but of course we will have to be wise. We'll perhaps have to change our tactics a little," he said on Saturday.

Yesterday the independent newspaper The Nation called on officials to allow the vote to proceed on time.

"Politicians in the ruling alliance who are not sure of winning their seats have tried to use the Karachi bombing as an excuse to put off the elections," it said in an editorial.
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