Within one day of the Bhutto assassination in the military garrison city of Rawalpindi, there are multiple contradictory reports on how Benazir Bhutto was killed. The Pakistani government has changed its portrayal of her death three times in the 24 hours since her death. First she was reported to have been shot in the head and chest with AK-47 gunfire, then she was reported to have been killed by ball bearings from a suicide blast, and finally she died after suffering a skull fracture from hitting her head on the sunroof after the suicide bomber detonated.
The Daily Times, one of Pakistan's most reliable newspapers, reported that Bhutto was killed by gunfire after she poked through the sunroof to great her supporters.
*Benazir Bhutto was leaving Liaquat Bagh after addressing the rally when her vehicle, a Black Lexus bulletproof vehicle, stopped near the venue's gate where PPP workers were shouting party slogans.
* Benazir came out from the sunroof of her vehicle to respond to her supporters' slogans when a motorcyclist opened Kalashnikov fire on her.
* Benazir fell inside her vehicle after receiving bullet injuries on her head and neck.
* The attacker blew himself up after firing the shots.
This report is consistent with statements from two Bhutto aides, who said Bhutto was shot and bleeding once she got back inside the car. "Rescuers found Bhutto lying in pool of blood on the back seat. A senior party official, Amin Fahim, who had been sitting beside her, said he heard 'between three and five shots,'" the Guardian reported. "Amir Qureshi, a bodyguard from Bhutto's youth wing who had been jogging alongside her vehicle, said she was shot first in the neck, then in the head... Doctors administered open heart massage but Bhutto died from a bullet that severed her spinal cord, one medic at the Rawalpindi hospital said."
"She was hit in the neck and slumped back in the vehicle," the Herald Sun reported. "Blood poured from her head, and she never regained consciousness." A Pakistan Peoples Party spokesman also stated Bhutto "fell inside the vehicle after receiving bullets in her head and neck."
This account matches that of multiple police officers and eyewitnesses on the scene, including John Moore, a photographer from Getty Images, who was 20 yards from Bhutto during the attack. Moore clearly states that Bhutto went through the sunroof prior to the explosion:
"I ran up, got as close as I got, made a few pictures of her waving to the crowd," Getty Images senior staff photographer John Moore told CNN's online streaming news service, CNN.com Live, in a phone interview Thursday from Islamabad, Pakistan.
"And then suddenly, there were a few gunshots that rang out, and she went down, she went down through the sunroof," he said. "And just at that moment I raised my camera up and the blast happened. ... And then, of course, there was chaos."
Last evening, the Pakistani government changed the story. News reports indicated that nvestigators told a top-level meeting, led by President Pervez Musharraf, that Bhutto was killed by shrapnel from the suicide bombing. "The initial report that was submitted to the high-level meeting disclosed that Benazir Bhutto was hit by the ball bearings of the suicide bomber's jacket that hit and cut her jugular vain," the paper stated. "It caused her excessive internal and external bleeding. As a result, she died in no time. The report was submitted before the post-mortem was performed on her body. The exact nature of the wounds would be determined by the post-mortem report."
Today, the story has changed yet again. Now, Pakistan's Interior Ministry is claiming that Bhutto was killed after slamming her head on the sunroof due to the force of the explosion. "The impact of her head on the sun-roof lever fractured her skull and killed her, the Sun reported. "There was no bullet that hit her .... there was no splinter that hit her," said Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz. "At least seven doctors from the Rawalpindi General Hospital - where the leader was rushed immediately after the attack - say there were no bullet marks on Bhutto's body."
The Pakistani Interior Ministry's report of Bhutto's death by a skull fracture strongly contradicts the briefing to the Pakistani government that she was killed by impact or shrapnel. The claims that she had no wounds on her body also contradicts eyewitness accounts and the first report to the government. The video embedded in the Sun report clearly shows Bhutto is ducking prior to any explosion.
As I noted yesterday, this was a sophisticated attack. Although I was incorrect that she was shot through the window of her armored vehicle - it is surprising she would go through the roof in a crowd given the past attempt on her life--the attacker (or attackers, as there is still speculation there were two gunmen) still required a high degree of training and discipline to conduct the strike.
The shooter was able to penetrate the dense security cordon in the garrison city--likely with help form the police, military, the Inter Service Intelligence, or some combination of the three organizations. He fired an AK-47--not the most accurate of assault rifles, from a motorcycle, not the most stable of shooting platforms. He struck Bhutto in the head and chest, indicating he was an excellent shot. Then in the chaos of the crowd, the shooter had the wherewithal to detonate his vest.
The attack has all of the elements of a complex military operation. The PPP, Nawaz Sharif and his PML-N political party, and others are already pointing the finger at Musharraf and the military as the culprits. Musharraf and his government are modifying the cause of Bhutto's death to deflect the involvement of elements of the police, military, and intelligence services.
