PPP rejects report on Bhutto death

A spokesman for Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who was appointed party leader after his mother's death, said the report would be used as a "diversion" away from the real issue of finding the killers.

Scotland Yard investigators found the former prime minister died of a "severe head injury" and not a gunshot wound. The attack was carried out by a lone terrorist who fired shots before detonating the bomb, killing himself along with Ms Bhutto and at least 20 others.

The investigation, which was limited to determining the cause and circumstances of the death, found the fatal injury was a major trauma to the right side of the head.

It was not caused by Ms Bhutto inadvertently hitting her head as she ducked down, but by the force of the explosion throwing her head against the escape hatch of the vehicle.

The detectives ruled out the possibility of there being two people involved in the attack, a gunman and a suicide bomber, using television footage and forensic experts to conclude that one and the same man fired the shots from the rear of the vehicle at a distance of one to two metres, before detonating the bomb.

PPP spokesman Wajid Hasan, who also speaks on behalf of Ms Bhutto's 19-year-old son, a student at Oxford University, said: "This report is not easy to accept. We don't accept the report because it tries to cover up the government's inefficiency in providing security and protecting Ms Bhutto.

"We want an international inquiry by the UN to look into not only the cause of death but also who was responsible. The fact is that she died. What we need to know is who killed her."

He said Scotland Yard should not have accepted the "limited assignment" which was hampered by a lack of evidence and the fact the team only arrived many days after the attack.

He added: "Has it achieved anything? Nothing. It has tried to bail out the government. It does not resolve the issue of who killed her."