Taliban Commander Charged In Bhutto Murder

Underground Tribal Leader Named In Pakistani Police Charges

(CBS/AP)  Pakistani police on Saturday formally accused the top Taliban leader in the country and four others of planning the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.

Police filed preliminary charges in court against Baitullah Mehsud, who has been named by the Pakistani government in the Dec. 27 killing of Bhutto in a suicide and gun-attack during a public rally. Mehsud is underground and it is not clear if the police are anywhere close to catching him.

"Police submitted preliminary charges in the Bhutto case before an anti-terrorism court, and the judge issued non-bailable warrants of arrest against Baitullah Mehsud and four other accused," said Chaudhry Abdul Majeed, the chief investigator in the case.

Although Mehsud was named by President Pervez Musharraf within days of the assassination, the filing of the preliminary charges Saturday completes a legal formality. It is the first legal step before an arrest can be made.

Mehsud is the commander of Tehrik-e-Taliban, an umbrella group of Islamic militant groups linked to al Qaeda. Mehsud is believed to be based in the volatile South Waziristan province at the border with Afghanistan, and has been blamed for a series of suicide attacks across Pakistan.

Earlier reports indicated that Mehsud had denied complicity in the killings. In December a Mahsud spokeman told Agence France-Presse, "It is against tribal tradition and custom to attack a woman."

In January the CIA confirmed the suspicions of the Pakistan government, describing Mehsud as an extremist with strong ties to al Qaeda, and blaming him for an organized campaign of assassinations of Pakistani officials and suicide bombings in the country.

Majeed refused to give details of the police investigation into the specific roles that the suspects are accused of playing in the assassination.

"The suspects, declared absconders in the case, were involved in planning to kill Benazir Bhutto," he told The Associated Press.

He said the others named in the charges are Ibadur Rehman, Imramullah, Faiz Muhammad and Abbdullah. All five are accused of being involved in planning and financing the assassination plot, he said. Imramullah and Abbdullah uses only one name.

Police have already arrested five suspects in connection with Bhutto's killing including Husnain Gul, who allegedly facilitated Bhutto's attacker because he wanted to avenge the death of a friend in a military attack on a mosque last year.

Gul and his cousin, identified only as Rafaqat, were arrested recently. Other suspects include a 15-year-old boy Aitezaz Shah and two others, Sher Zaman and Abdul Rasheed, who supplied arms to the attacker, identified as Saeed alias Bilal.

Majeed said earlier that police were still looking for another man, Ikramullah, who had been assigned to attack Bhutto if she escaped the first blast.

Majeed also has said Bilal met with Mehsud weeks before the attack on Bhutto, according to a detainee who had traveled to troubled South Waziristan.

According to the police, Shah, the 15-year-old boy, told police in his confessional statements that Mehsud had sent a five-member squad on the day of the attack and that he was among the backup team along with Ikramullah.

It is believed that Bilal first fired at Bhutto and then exploded himself killing more then 20 others.

[libsrweak]

Posted by walt1944 at 12:31 PM : Mar 01, 2008
+ report abuse

*****************

to see a liberal/terrorist squirm at any news against terrorism is pathetic.

[lloydbest1]

"To Walt1944:......for starters if our government was ruled by "Nazi''''s" this blog site would be banned and people like you ''''and'''' me would disappear...." Posted by guadalcanal3 at 03:02 PM : Mar 01, 2008

I assume from your sign-on that you were around during the Nazi''s push for power; perhaps even spent some time in uniform trying to stop them? I understand your frustration with Walt1944, I''ve wanted to throw cold water on him myself....

But please consider...

If we had the same p*ssant constitution the Weimar Republic had in the 20''s-early 30''s and if we had JUST ONE more Scalia clone on the bench; this blog would be history and you, me, wrathful Walt and the Rowdy One from Texas would be worm food at the bottom of some trench in rural Maryland. It is that close. Our situation is that precarious.

I don''t want to ramble on too much longer ''cause we''re wandering off topic but we are free beacuse of our rock-wall strong traditions of liberty and justice, NOT because GWB wishes our society to be that way.

[lloydbest1]

Just because some Taliban lord-high-mucketymuck commissioned the triggerman does not mean he or his Islamic "700 club" planed the whole thing in a vacuum. Musharraf knew about the plot just as Bush knew the what, the when and the how of 9/11. And like Bush, Uncle Pervez could easily have prevented the outrage but allowed (even encouraged) it to happen to suit his own agenda - whatever that might be.
Make no mistake, Mr. Musharraf is just as culpable in Bhutto''s death as he would have been if he pulled the trigger himself.
Let''s not be mistaken here, either....Bhutto was no Ghandi, M.L.King or even John F. Kennedy. She was middling-poor administrator with a deserved rep for playing fast and loose with Pakistani law. But she was also an alternative to the destructive politics-as-usual that have plagued Pakistan for the last several years.
Oh, and rowdytexan...The time to have done away with Bhutto was BEFORE she made those remarks. After she lipped off it would have been too late. I realize the CIA, as a group, may not be the brightest light in the harbor, but no one''s that stupid. The CIA may, in fact, have been the last ones who would want Bhutto to die the way she did because they knew for a lead-pipe certainty the whole world would point their fingers at them before anyone else.

[guadalcanal3]

To Walt1944: Anyone who uses "Nazi" expletives to describe our president has absolutely no idea what a real nazi is...for starters if our government was ruled by "Nazi''s" this blog site would be banned and people like you ''and'' me would disappear and just about everyone else who exercises free speach as well..You would do well to "temper" your accusations you treacherous fool.

[walt1944-2009]

The Pakistani Government has finally decided that it was the Taliban who were responsible for Bhutto''s death (at least for now!), and not Al Qeada, her car''s sunroof, lone gunmen, angry tigers from the San Francisco Zoo, or storm troopers from the planet Mongol!

The Pakestani police have named a top Taliban leader as the ring leader in the plot to kill Bhutto and have filed papers in court to charge him for the crime: that is, as soon as they can catch him!!!

The Great Emperor Bush hails this move as a triumph for democracy in Pakistan and vows that he will aid the Pakistanis with all the tools he has at his disposal, to find Bhutto''s killers. Considering that the Great Emperor has been, supposedly, looking for Osama Bin Laden for 5 years and still hasn''t caught him, the Great Emperor''s statement doesn''t really mean much!!!

SIG HEIL, BUSH!!!!
sig heil, McCain????

[runningralph]

So many people are obsessed with Bush. We got an article here that doesn''t mention Bush. In fact, implicates someone else entirely, but every post is about Bush. Your prejudice is beyond reason.

[ringading3]

Tulcat, off the meds again? Someone has to listen to this nutcase on a regular basis. So sad.

[luigi999-2009]

Sick minded comments here by leftist wackos. Pakistan needs to wipe out the Taliban once and for all or else we''ll have to do it for them.

[mbcsmith]

Posted by tulcak at 09:39 AM : Mar 01, 2008

LOL...LOL again. LIBS are soooo funny.

[rowdytexan2]

Oh, by all means, round up all the Taliban and charge them fast with assassinating Ms. Bhutto! Before everyone finds out it was in the fact the CIA who offed her because she leaked in an interview on an international broadcasting station that Osama bin Laden is in fact DEAD!

[tulcak]

bush, the same one who doesn''t think we are going into a recession... its obvious as the smirk on his stupid face... there is no economist who will deny that we are going into or have been in one for years now... but, bush knows better than anyone, knows better than the brightest minds on the planet... because, he talks to god............ you selfish, greedy, hateful republicans... this is your man, your party - look what you''ve made of this country and the world... great job.

[tulcak]

it is just incredible how the obvious is just ignored or just carelessly covered up. what happened to this world? especially our country. I remember when the truth was uncovered most of the time and we really had to struggle to get to the bottom of things - but we did. now, people and governments get away with anything they want and they do the dirty deed out in the sunlight in front of everyone, and while they are standing there with the blood dripping off the knife, they deny it... and people look the other way. it is obvious who killed bhutto - Musharraf did it and he did it with the help of bush. bhutto was messing up their perfect relationship and this could not be allowed. bush, the same one who denies that he lied us into war (although its on the public record for 6 years), who denies global warming (although 95% of all scientists say it is happening), who denies outing Valerie Plame... on and on and on... lies, lies, lies, coverups, shame, and death...