Bhutto implicates Pakistan's military-security establishment in assassination attempt

Pakistan’s US-backed, military-controlled government has blamed the attack on Islamic fundamentalist terrorist groups—the Taliban, al-Qaeda, or one of a number of likeminded Pakistani-based groups.

In recent weeks several of these groups did publicly call for the assassination of Bhutto, who has won the Bush administration’s backing by calling for Pakistan’s security forces to launch a merciless campaign to assert control over the tribal areas adjacent to Afghanistan and by agreeing to ally with General Pervez Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup and has provided pivotal logistical support for the US occupation of Afghanistan.

At a press conference Friday, Bhutto challenged the government’s assertions concerning responsibility for the Karachi bombing. Whilst conceding that Islamic extremists may have carried out the attack, she insisted it had been orchestrated by “certain individuals who abuse their positions.”