RAWALPINDI, Feb 17: A senior investigator said on Sunday that the suspects arrested in Ms Bhutto’s assassination were part of a team instructed to kill her and Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud was mastermind of the plot.

CID Assistant Inspector General of Police Chaudhry Abdul Majeed said this while addressing a press conference at the Police Lines here on Sunday.

He said Baitullah Mehsud had financed the assassins and given them instructions to assassinate Ms Bhutto.

Mr Majeed said that five important suspects had been arrested by Pakistani Joint Investigation team in connection with Ms Bhutto’s assassination as two of them, Aitizaz Shah and Sher Zaman, had made important disclosures about Ms Bhutto’s assassination.

He said the suspects had been produced before the court where they had recorded their confessional statements, disclosing that there had been several people (suicide bombers) aged between 30 and 35 and some aged between 20 and 21 waiting in training camps in Waziristan for their term to strike.

Mr Majeed said that the team instructed to kill Ms Bhutto had been motivated after she announced to come to Pakistan and pledged to take action against Taliban terrorists, in case she came into power.

Mr Majeed quoted suspect Aitzaz Shah as saying that that he (Shah) had been in a Karachi madressah where he had been incited for a jihad. Later, he got training from militants of Taliban in Waziristan.

Mr Majeed said the team members had planned to assassinate Ms Bhutto during an election rally in Pibi or Peshawar but got late in carrying out suicide bombings at these two places. He said the suspects had been told to assassinate Ms Bhutto during the election rallies either in Punjab or the NWFP and not in Larkana, her hometown.

He said the suspects had also been tasked to assassinate former federal minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and they had visited the Parliament House for the purpose before targeting Ms Bhutto.

“Saeed, alias Bilal, was selected to carry out suicide attack on Ms Bhutto during her Liaquat Bagh rally on Dec 27. He was also given Rs50,000, a pistol and a suicide vest for the purpose.

Mr Majeed said the arrested suspects had endorsed statements of each others recorded in the court of magistrate.