By NNN-APP
Washington : The CIA has concluded that members of al-Qaeda and allies of Pakistani tribal leader Baitullah Mehsud were responsible for last month’s assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, a major American newspaper reported Friday.
The Washington Post also quoted the American agency Director, Michael V Hayden as saying al-Qaeda and Mehsud also stand behind a new wave of violence in the South Asian country.
Offering the most definitive public assessment by a US intelligence official, Hayden told the paper in an interview that Bhutto was killed by fighters allied with Mehsud with support from al-Qaeda’s terrorist network. That view mirrors the Pakistani government’s assessment.
In a 45-minute interview he saw a nexus between al-Qaeda and extremist group, adding, “It is clear that their intention is to continue to try to do harm to the Pakistani state.”
After Bhutto’s Dec. 27 assassination in Rawalpindi, Pakistani officials released intercepted communications between Mehsud and his supporters in which the tribal leader praised the killing and, according to the officials, appeared to take credit for it.
“This was done by that network around Baitullah Mehsud. We have no reason to question that,” Hayden said.
He described the killing as “part of an organized campaign” that has included suicide bombings and other attacks on Pakistani leaders.
The top CIA officials acknowledged Pakistan’s key role in fighting terrorism along Afghan-Pakistan border region.
Hayden said that the United States has “not had a better partner in the war on terrorism than the Pakistanis.”