Police suspect two Bhutto bombers

A pair of suicide bombers were apparently behind last week's bloody attack on opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, a top intelligence official said yesterday, as the prime minister expressed optimism that the people behind the plot would soon be brought to justice.

Police initially said only one suicide bomber participated in the attack, but the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the two severed heads found at the scene -- and the fact that no families had emerged to claim either one -- suggested two men were responsible.

"One of the attackers wanted to blow himself up under Benazir Bhutto's truck. When people tried to catch him, he detonated the bomb," he said, quoting witness accounts.

Although Bhutto herself escaped unhurt, at least 136 people -- mostly supporters from her main opposition Pakistan People's Party -- were killed in the attack on her heavily guarded convoy in the southern city of Karachi.

"The culprits will be brought to book," said a statement issued yesterday by the office of Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, rejecting Bhutto's request that US experts be invited to assist the probe.

In past attacks "our security agencies had successfully investigated and arrested the perpetrators and are fully capable of investigating such untoward incidents," Aziz said.

Bhutto widely thought to have been allowed back from exile in a deal with the country's ruler, President General Pervez Musharraf.

But since Thursday's attack, venomous exchanges have erupted between Bhutto and Aziz's government -- which enjoys Musharraf's backing -- straining their emerging alliance.

The bitter exchange of words between Bhutto and the ruling party chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain reflect the personal animosity that underlies much of Pakistani politics, and raised doubts about whether longtime enemies could become allies in support of Musharraf.

In exchange for being allowed home from exile, Bhutto is expected to link up with Hussain's party to back Musharraf in a January parliamentary vote.

Since the attack, the government has pointed the finger at pro-Taliban Islamic militants, but Bhutto thinks important figures from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q party and a head of a spy agency could be behind Thursday's attack.

Bhutto Hussain is "protecting the killers." She gave no evidence to back up her claim.

Hussain, in an apparently sarcastic swipe at Bhutto, said that her husband, working with Bhutto and other party leaders, arranged the blasts to stir up public sympathy. The proof: Bhutto went into her armored vehicle minutes before the bombs exploded and was not hurt.

Although his tone appeared to be tongue in cheek, such accusations often gain traction in Pakistan, where conspiracy theories thrive in its violent, intrigue-filled politics.

Bhutto elements in the government were trying to kill her, namely remnants of the regime of former military leader General Zia-ul Haq, whose government ordered the execution of her father, a former prime minister.

Hussain's meanwhile, was killed in 1981 -- allegedly by a militant group run by one of Bhutto's late brothers.