Investigators arrested two ‘very important alleged terrorists’ on Thursday in connection with the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, officials said.
“I can confirm two people have been arrested in connection with the probe into Benazir’s assassination and they are being interrogated by the joint investigation team.” – Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier Javed Cheema (Retd) .
Benazir died in a gun and suicide bomb attack in Rawalpindi on December 27.
A senior security official added: “The joint investigation team investigating the attack has arrested two very important alleged terrorists, Hasnain and Rafaqat, from Rawalpindi today.”
The Pakistani government and the United States Central Intelligence Agency have accused Baitullah Mehsud, an al Qaeda-linked militant commander based in the tribal area of South Waziristan, of masterminding the attack.
Mehsud has denied any involvement.
But a second security official said that the two men arrested in Pindi had ties to Mehsud.
“It is a major breakthrough. These two men were involved in the assassination and they are from a militant group which is relatively new.” – the official.
“Their tentacles are from the tribal region and Baitullah Mehsud.”
A Scotland Yard team that was invited by President Pervez Musharraf to assist Pakistani investigators returned to Islamabad earlier on Thursday and is due to present its report on Friday.