Attempted Bhutto Assassin Strapped Bombs to Baby

Another day, another horrifying account of the sheer savagery some people will stoop to in the name of their warped ideology.

KARACHI: The Oct 19 bombing on Benazir Bhutto’s procession in Karachi which killed over 170 people, was carried out by a person who used a one-year-old child strapped with fatal bombs, sources close to the PPP leader said.

The bomber repeatedly tried to carry the child to the back of Benazir’s truck and hand over the infant to either Benazir Bhutto or any other PPP leader on the truck but something always prevented him from reaching close by.

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Meanwhile, horrifying new details emerged last night of the attempt by suicide bombers to kill Ms Bhutto on her return home from exile last month.

Investigators from Ms Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party said yesterday they believed the bomb, which killed 170 people and left hundreds more wounded, was strapped to a one-year-old child carried by its jihadist father.

They said the suicide bomber tried repeatedly to carry the baby to Ms Bhutto's vehicle as she drove in a late-night cavalcade through the streets of Karachi.

"At the point where the bombs exploded, Benazir Bhutto herself saw the man with the child and asked him to come closer so that she could hug or kiss the infant," investigators were reported as saying. "But someone came in between and a guard felt that the man with the child was not behaving normally. So the child was not allowed to come aboard Benazir's vehicle."

Ms Bhutto is said to have told investigators she recalls the face of the man who was carrying the infant. She has asked to see recordings made by television news channels to try to identify the man.

This news came as Pervez Musharraf was summoned to Saudi Arabia to receive marching orders from his benefactors.

PAKISTANI military ruler General Pervez Musharraf rushed to Riyadh for crisis talks with his Saudi royal family benefactors yesterday as his emergency rule came under threat from caretaker officials ordering the release of thousands of detained political workers and lawyers.

The officials, appointed to run the country's national and provincial governments ahead of elections scheduled for January 8, were expected to do no more than maintain the status quo until the poll.

But last night, led by interim prime minister Mohammedmian Soomro, their first action involved ordering the immediate release of thousands detained in the security crackdown that followed the declaration of the state of emergency on November 3.

UPDATE: Hot Air links. Also at LGF.

Cross-posted at A Tangled Web.

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