Date:30/12/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/12/30/stories/2007123054781500.htm

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Al-Qaeda denies role

Against our tradition to attack women, it says

— Photo: AFP

This TV grab from a Pakistani television channel shows an unidentified assailant reportedly pointing a gun towards the former Premier, Benazir Bhutto, (not in the picture) during a rally at which she was assassinated in Rawalpindi on Thursday.

A commander of pro-Taliban militants in Pakistan rejected government claims that he was behind the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, his spokesman said.

The spokesman for Baitullah Mehsud, whom Pakistani authorities describe as an al-Qaida leader, dismissed the allegations as ``government propaganda.''

``We strongly deny it. Baitullah Mehsud is not involved in the killing of Benazir Bhutto,'' the spokesman, Maulana Mohammed Umer, told The Associated Press by phone. - AP