Bhutto's Aides Accuse Government of Cover-Up

Dec. 29, 2007— -- The Islamic militant accused by the Pakistani government of being behind the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto today denied that he or al Qaeda orchestrated the killing, and opposition leaders say the allegations are part of a government cover-up.

"We have intelligence intercepts indicating that al Qaeda leader Baitullah Mehsud is behind her assassination," Pakistan interior ministry representative Javed Iqbal Cheema said on Friday.

The ministry released a transcript of a purported conversation between Mehsud and another militant, apparently discussing the assassination.

"It was a spectacular job. They were very brave boys who killed her," Mehsud said, according to the transcript.

A spokesman for Mehsud, Maulana Mohammed Umer, denied the al Qaeda leader was involved in the attack and dismissed the allegations as "government propaganda," in a telephone call he made to The Associate Press from the tribal region of South Waziristan.

"The fact is that we are only against America, and we don't consider political leaders of Pakistan our enemy," Umer said, adding that he was speaking on instructions from Mehsud.

Bhutto's supporters are calling the government's allegations against al Qaeda a cover-up. Her aides say that accusing Mehsud is "dangerous nonsense."

The slain opposition leader's party, the Pakistan People's Party, insists that she was shot to death, which breaks with the government line that she died when she hit her head on her vehicle's sunroof during the attack.

"Whereas it is possible that al Qaeda is the culprit, it is also possible that some other hands may have joined hands with al Qaeda," said Gen. Talat Masood, who was Pakistan's defense minister under Bhutto from 1988-90, during her first time in office.

Pakistan is reeling in the shock waves from Bhutto's death. Thousands of angry supporters are protesting in the streets and any hopes for the parliamentary elections that are scheduled for Jan. 8 are fading.

Nine Election Commission offices were burned by mobs in Bhutto's home province of Sindh this morning. The commission also announced it will hold an emergency meeting to decide whether the vote can go ahead. Many believe it won't.