Benazir Bhutto assassination: Gunmen shoot case prosecutor dead in Islamabad

Chaudhry Zulfiqar was top prosecutor in the Bhutto case – and the deadly 2008 Mumbai attacks

Gunmen have shot dead the prosecutor investigating the murder of Pakistan’s ex-leader Benazir Bhutto who was assassinated in 2007.

Police said Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali was ambushed as he was being driven from his Islamabad home to a court hearing in the Bhutto case in Rawalpindi.

Police have not speculated on a reason for the shooting.

Chaudhry Zulfiqar was also the top prosecutor in a case related to the attacks in Mumbai, India, in 2008.

Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has been accused of failing to provide adequate security for Ms Bhutto at the time of her death. 

Mr Musharraf, who recently returned to Pakistan after living abroad, is being held under house arrest while the claims against him are investigated. He denies the allegations.

No-one has ever been convicted over the murder of Ms Bhutto.

Police said Chaudhry Zulfiqar was on his way to the anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi for a hearing on Friday morning when his car was ambushed.

The attackers on a motorcycle sprayed the car with bullets, badly injuring the prosecutor who later died in hospital.

A woman pedestrian was also killed and one of Chaudhry Zulfiqar’s bodyguards was injured.

The attackers fled the scene.

Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported that lawyers in Islamabad and Rawalpindi have announced a strike over the killing.

The claims against Mr Musharraf date back several years.

A UN inquiry in 2010 found that Ms Bhutto’s murder could have been prevented, and that Mr Musharraf’s government did not provide her with proper security.

Prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for him in February 2011.

He had been in self-imposed exile for several years, but returned to Pakistan in March to try to stand in the forthcoming election.

When the authorities arrested Mr Musharraf last week, Chaudhry Zulfiqar described the accusations as aiding and abetting Ms Bhutto’s killing.

Mr Musharraf had blamed Ms Bhutto’s killing on Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who denied any involvement.

Mr Musharraf’s political party, the All Pakistan Muslim League, condemned the prosecutor’s killing.

“We vehemently condemn Chaudhry Zulfiqar’s murder by armed attackers and seek immediate investigation into the incident which may affect Pervez Musharraf’s trial in Benazir case,” said party spokesman Muhammad Amjad.

Chaudhry Zulfiqar was also pursuing seven suspected militants over the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

The Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba was blamed for the attacks, in which 166 people were killed.

Read more: BBC

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