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KARACHI, Pakistan (CNN) -- A top aide who helped bathe Benazir Bhutto's body after her death said the former Pakistani prime minister clearly had bullet wounds to the head, calling a lie the government's conclusion that a sunroof lever was involved.

Bhutto aide suggests cover-up - CNN.com

MarquezRazor

Mehsud denies his hand in Benazir's assassination


CNN-IBN

Published on Sat, Dec 29, 2007 at 13:58, Updated at Sat, Dec 29, 2007 in World section

Tags: Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud , New Delhi
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New Delhi: The Taliban leader in Pakistan, Baitullah Mehsud says he had no hand in Benazir Bhutto's killing. On Friday, an Interior Ministry spokesperson had blamed Mehsud for Benazir's assassination.


Mehsud's spokesman Maulana Omar said that "he had no involvement in this attack" on Benazir.


And no one knows how Mehsud looks as all his pictures have his face carefully covered and the tactic is deliberate.


Not knowing how somebody looks makes it more difficult to target him. Mehsud heads the newly formed Taliban Movement of Pakistan and is committed to jihad against foreign forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan.


Mehsud heads an army of 20,000 militants in South Waziristan and the area is now acknowledged to be an al-Qaeda sanctuary.


Mehsud operates under the direct command of the Afghan Taliban commander Jalaluddin Haqqani and also shares a close rapport with Taliban leader Mullah Omar.

Mehsud denies his hand in Benazir's assassination

smilingassassin

That is absolutely classic!....and true.

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smilingassassin

You would be surprised at how much someone can bleed from the head.

Srirangan

I agree. But I think you are jumping the gun a bit here. I never said it is a Musharraf Conspiracy. I think it certainly isn't, I don't believe that man is even in control anymore nor has he been for quite a while.

Credit should go to Kiyani for the same, not Musharraf. Musharraf's Army was signing peace deals with the Taliban while Kiyani launched a Swat offensive.

You are being a bit naive here. A majority of Pakistanis haven't shifted to the America camp because of the Bhutto murder.

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Agnostic Muslim

Not expert opinion obviously, but a little on head wounds I could find:
How to Stop Bleeding From a Minor Head Wound

Bhutto's wound was obviously not minor. I Don't think simply looking at the amount of blood in the car says anything.

The criticism of her aides does indicate other things though - Sherry Rehman, who was part of the group that performed bathing rites, says they clearly saw "a bullet wound" on her head - whats important here is that she doesn't say anything about seeing the bullet wound to her neck that BB's aides were adamantly insisting also happened earlier. So if they were wrong about seeing her get shot there, why couldn't they be wrong here as well?

How qualified is Rehman to claim that the wound on the side of her head was a bullet wound? Apparently even the big mouth doctors at the hospital issuing statements, when she was brought in, thought the same initially.

The claim about a "cover up", based on how she died, is nonsense. From the GoP's POV, it doesn't matter whether she died from hitting her head or the bombers bullet - the man caused her death. A cover up would occur regardless, if there was one.

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Agnostic Muslim

I would have to agree with Srirangan on the Pakistanis having a change of mind about how large a threat AQ and the Taliban are. It is premature to suggest that. A lot is going to depend upon whether the media continues its anti-Musharraf tirade and blocks out coverage of the extremist problem in hopes to continue the effort to oust him.

It took forever yesterday for the AQ claims and the GoP's accusation against B Mehsud to appear on most Pakistani news websites. Mehsud's denial, however is on every site in a matter of minutes.

With respect to that, Mehsud doesn't really have an option but to deny, he actually has a home in Waziristan and a stronghold that would be under threat if he is conclusively linked to this.

MarquezRazor

Well I have managed hundreds of head injury cases ranging from RTA(road traffic acident) to fall from 3rd storey to bullet injury through the cheek and out through the other side but maybe because I havent found anyone whos banged his head on the sunroof door latch.

I didnt say somebody cant bleed profusely from the head , I am saying the amount of bleeding on the picture is not consistent with the mode of injury given.

Also it is very rare that bleeding from the head causes hypovolemic shock.(so as to cause the heart to stop).

Srirangan

Shouldn't his Waziristan strong hold be in threat whether or not he sanctioned the Bhutto attack? The man heads the Pakistan Taliban for gods sake. The Army should be snapping at his heels all the time.

Ray

The Interior Ministry spokesman Brig Cheema had initially said that there were no bullet injury but shrapnel injury. And now, it is being said that it was a head injury.

I have just seen a TV clip which shows a gunman on the SUV and behind taking aim and I saw a pistol being fired.

Sherry Rehman, who bathed Bennazir Bhutto's body as per the ritual before burial has said that she has seen a bullet wound!

Very odd.

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Parihaka

You are aware she was hit by the full blast of a suicide bomber aren't you? That other people within the blast radius were torn apart?
She didn't 'bang' her head, the impact as her head hit the sunroof latch broke her skull and spilled her brains out. That isn't a 'banging her head'.
No, but brain death does.

Parihaka

Sorry Sri, I'm guilty of conflating you with the 'oh my god, Pakistan is going to fall apart now hee hee' crowd that have been running around various forums. The difficulty of scanning several forums at once, my apologies.
And yes I am being naive, or perhaps hopeful...

MarquezRazor

I dont think it did.This is why.Number one:iirc in the Tv clip somebody takes shot , she falls down then there is a flash of blast and the camera pans out.Or the last two may have occurred simultaenously.

Number two:The most important one is that have you ever seen anyone's face after they have taken the impact of a blast that too from such close range(other people were torn apart?)?There is NO-WAY somebody can be recognised in that case.If the blast impact caused her head to hit the sunroof with such a force , then surely the head was exposed to the blast and would bear the brunt of it and not only cause it to strike the object? And there is I think a small clip which shows her being taken on a stretcher where she is easily recogniseable.

Number three:If she was exposed to the blast she would have sustained a lot of injuries on her body.Atleast the neck and chest area.Maybe some splinters?Now one can say that chest was shielded and she luckily missed the splinters but still the sudden rush of the shockwave through the nose/mouth will rupture somebodys lungs and there will be external signs of the internal injury.But we dont have any reports of any injury to other part of the body.plus they didnt do the autopsy.
.
Well I dont quite gather the precise difference between "banging the head"which can be done quite hard and "impacted her head".Anyway that doesnt matter.

I dont have a problem with the theory she hit/impacted her head
which caused a injury.But I surely do have a problem with the extent of injury and its consequences.The roof was not very big in cross section.That will limit the acceleration of the head w.r.t the striking point.And please do consider that the skull bone is a very strong bone.It is really tough to crack it.

i am just sitting here looking at the pictures and that is what appears to me.Ofcourse I could be wrong.nobody without actually seeing the body firsthand can say anything confirmatory.but I will stick to it unless I get sufficient info to think otherwise.
What you are referring to is not exactly braindeath but what is known as neurogenic shock.It can occur with trauma to the nervous system in any form.It could have been that.

But on the other hand another thing is that , I wouldnt say it doesnt occur but hypotension is generally not present with isolated head injury.Hypotension is more often associated with a polytrauma patient.

mememe

You can never tell who killed who in Pakistan? Look back at Generak Zia-Ul-Haq. They do not still know who killed him and they will never find out there is not enogh concerete evidence who killed him. Its the same in Benazir Bhutto case what do they really know about her assassination not much all they really she either died with the gunshot wound or the suicide attack. I personally reckon it was the gunshot wound in the neck.

Ray

And what about this:

Reconcile the statement of the Govt spokesman with:
The Interior Ministry states something and then there is another story put out which is totally at variance.

Was Brig Cheema talking through his hat?