Pakistan court indicts seven over Bhutto killing: prosecutor

AFP , Saturday 5 Nov 2011

A Pakistani anti-terror court indicts two police officers and five alleged Taliban militants over the 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto

Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister of Pakistan who was assassinated in a suicide bombing in Rawalpindi (Photo /file: AFP)

Seven accused including two police officers have been indicted over the 2007 assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto," public prosecutor Chaudhry Azhar told AFP on Sarurday.

The police officers were Saud Aziz, who was the Rawalpindi police chief at the time of the killing, and Khurram Shahzad, another senior policeman.

Nobody has been jailed yet for Bhutto's assassination.

The seven were indicted at the court in a high-security prison in Rawalpindi, a garrison city near the capital Islamabad where Bhutto was killed in a gun and suicide attack after addressing an election campaign rally.

Her assassination on December 27, 2007, came just weeks after she returned to the country.

The five alleged militants are accused of "criminal conspiracy" for bringing the suicide bomber from the tribal belt in the northwest and keeping him at a house in Rawalpindi.

"(All) the accused denied the charges and demanded for trial," Azhar said, adding that the police officers were accused of a security breach and for their "failure" to protect Bhutto.

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