Chilling tale of infant used in Karachi bombing

Tuesday November 20, 2007 (0858 PST)

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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.

At the point on Sharea Faisal 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. 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 BB’s truck.

Benazir Bhutto also believes that the explosion in the police van near her truck was caused by the infant who had bombs strapped all over the body. The PPP leader is said to have told her party men she recognizes the face of the man carrying the infant and she has requested several TV channels and camera persons to provide her the recordings so that she could identify the bomber.

These details of the bombing which are available with the PPP leadership have been gathered for presentation to any foreign investigative agency because the PPP does not trust the local investigators. “That is why Benazir Bhutto has been demanding that the probe must be conducted by the FBI or the Scotland Yard so that she could provide them with the evidence,� a PPP source said.

The PPP leader believes that the car which exploded near her truck was a planted bomb and somehow security agencies had left it parked for unexplained reasons. “We saw at least 16 bodies with their decapitated heads on the spot and so it was impossible to claim that it was only a suicide bombing,� PPP sources said.

The story of the infant is a chilling dimension to the bombing and PPP leaders believe that if Benazir Bhutto had picked up the child for a hug or a kiss, the entire leadership of the PPP on board the truck would have been eliminated.

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