Bhutto Aide Sees Cover-Up in Changing Cause of Death

Finds skull-fracture theory 'nonsense'
By Jane Yager,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 29, 2007 7:35 AM CST
Bhutto Aide Sees Cover-Up in Changing Cause of Death
In this image taken from APTN, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf announces three days of mourning for former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, in Islamabad, Thursday, Dec. 27, 2007. Bhutto, was shot and killed in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Thursday in a suicide attack on her vehicle as it pulled...   (Associated Press)

A top aide to Benazir Bhutto charges in a CNN interview that the Pakistani government is trying to cover up the cause of Bhutto's death. Aide Sherry Rehman blasts as "bizarre, dangerous nonsense" the government's conclusion that Bhutto was not struck by bullets, but died of a skull fracture after hitting her head on a sunroof latch. Rehman said Bhutto bled profusely  on the way to the hospital, leaving the two cars she was carried in covered with blood.

"There were clear bullet injuries to her head," said Rehman. "When we bathed her we saw that." The Pakistani interior ministry has amended the cause of death twice since the assassination, saying on Thursday it was a gunshot wound, yesterday that she was killed by shrapnel, and then later yesterday the sunroof lever theory. The account put forth by Rehman matches both video footage of the gunman shooting at Bhutto before the blast and statements by doctors who treated Bhutto, CNN notes. (More Benazir Bhutto stories.)

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