Taliban Commander Charged In Bhutto Murder

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.