Bhutto suspects Musharraf allies in assassination attempt

October 25, 2007

Pakistan - Benazir Bhutto said members of President General Pervez Musharraf's regime may have been involved in last week's suicide bombing that targeted her convoy.

Benazir Bhutto said members of President General Pervez Musharraf's regime may have been involved in last week's suicide bombing that targeted her convoy.

"I have written to General Musharraf about certain people, some of whom are not in government, and some of whom are in the security and administration of this regime," Former Pakistani Prime Minister Bhutto told CNN on Thursday, when asked about suspicions about Musharraf's regime that she voiced shortly after the Oct. 18 attack.

"I know General Musharraf trusts them, I respect his trust in them, but I also have my own suspicions," she said. "All I'm asking is that, please, let an independent inquiry investigate this matter so that it can be laid to rest."

At least 130 people were killed and hundreds more injured in the attack last Thursday in Karachi.

Bhutto said she narrowly escaped death in the attack, which marked her return to Pakistan after nine years of self-exile. She suffered a perforated eardrum.

"The only reason that the rest of us on the truck survived was because the bodyguards surrounded my truck and did not allow the second attack to take place on my truck," she said. "Otherwise all of us would have been dead."