Death Toll At 136 In Pakistan, Al Qaeda Suspected

Not exactly a big surprise: Pakistani authorities believe that a tribal warlord allied with al Qaeda is behind the bloody assassination attempt on Benazir Bhutto. Locals hospitals report 136 bystanders are dead with another 250 wounded. The device used was packed with ball bearings and other shrapnel, adding to its lethality.

KARACHI, Pakistan - The suicide attack that killed up to 136 people and shattered former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's joyous return from exile bore the hallmarks of a warlord tied to al-Qaida and the Taliban, authorities said Friday. Forensic experts studied a severed head to determine the bomber's identity.

Baitullah Mehsud — a top militant leader on the unstable Afghan border — threatened this month to meet Bhutto's return to Pakistan with suicide attacks, according to local media reports.

The top security official in the province where the attack took place suggested that Bhutto's camp had not seriously considered the need for security for her return after eight years in exile.

"They got carried away by political exigencies instead of taking our concern seriously," said the official, Ghulam Muhammad Mohtarem.

Bhutto's procession had been creeping toward the center of Karachi for 10 hours with supporters thronging her armored truck when a small explosion erupted near the front of the vehicle. That was quickly followed by a larger blast, destroying two police vans escorting the procession. Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said the vehicles on the left side of Bhutto's truck had borne the brunt of the blast, one of the deadliest in Pakistan's history.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Manzur Mughal, the Karachi police officer in charge of the investigation, said detectives had established that a young man who threw a grenade blew himself up 22 seconds later next to the truck.

The attacker's head was found nearby and taken to a forensic lab to try to identify him, Mughal told The Associated Press.

It is not at all clear who else may have helped out here. Bhutto's husband told a television reporter that he believed certain elements in the government may have been involved. The report also says it is not clear whether Bhutto and Musharraf will continue their efforts to forge an anti-militant alliance - which would be doing exactly what the killers wanted. Don't be that stupid.