The Pakistan Government tonight claimed that Benazir Bhutto did not die from bullet wounds, as previously thought, but from hitting the sunroof of her campaign vehicle.
The dramatic statement came as the murdered political leader's funeral drew to a close and the violence that has convulsed the country since her death intensified.
The interior ministry said at a press conference that video of Ms Bhutto's last moments and an examination by doctors had shown that Ms Bhutto died apparently accidentally, as a suicide bomb blast went off at her political rally in Rawalpindi last night, killing around 20 people. No full post mortem examination had been carried out at the request of Ms Bhutto's husband, it was reported.
Brigadier Javed Cheema, a ministry spokesman, said Ms Bhutto had died from a head wound after smashing against the sunroof’s lever as she tried to shelter inside her car. "There is no evidence of any foreign element in her body," Brigadier Cheema said. "No bullet hit her, nor any splinters hit her. Unfortunately, it was to be that way.
"I wish she had not come out of the roof top of her vehicle."
But Ms Bhutto's lawyer and a senior official in the PPP, Farooq Naik, rejected the Government's claim as "baseless".
"It is a pack of lies," he said.
"Two bullets hit her, one in the abdomen and one in the head.
"It was a serious security lapse."
At the press conference, Brigadier Cheema insisted the Government had done everything in its power to protect Ms Bhutto. He said everybody at the rally in Rawalpindi had been searched, Ms Bhutto's rostrum had been bulletproof, and "all possible security arrangements were made within the resources of the Government of Pakistan".
He added: "It pains me, I say with a lot of anguish, that we wish she had not come out of that vehicle to wave to the people."
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