UNITED NATIONS, Sept 11 The UN Commission inquiring into the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto plans to visit London and Washington in two to three weeks in pursuit of its mandate to identify the facts and circumstances behind the December 2007 tragedy, diplomatic and official sources here told Dawn.

The commission will seek interviews with British and US intelligence officials in London and Washington.

The commission, which is led by Chile's UN Ambassador Heraldo Munoz has been in Pakistan for three weeks together with seven experts who are interviewing scores of witnesses and officials about the assassination attempts on Ms Bhutto on her arrival in Pakistan after eight years of self- exile.

In London, the sources told Dawn, the commission would visit the headquarters of Scotland Yard, whose investigators submitted a report in

February 2008 after a 2-1/2 week investigation. The British experts said

Ms Bhutto was killed by the force of a suicide bomb and not by an assassin's bullet, a conclusion that was greeted with disbelief by her supporters, medical experts and Pakistani public.

After the PPP was swept to power, it turned to the United Nations for an independent investigation so as to satisfy the party and others who had no faith in the government appointed commission and the Scotland Yard's report which concurred with the government findings.

The commission will also seek to interview former president Pervez Musharraf, currently residing in London. The commission is known to believe that its work will be incomplete without interviewing the principal and perhaps the most authoritative personality in Pakistan when Ms Bhutto was murdered.

The investigators will also interview Ms Nahid Khan, a close associate of the slain PPP leader, who has claimed residence in London and prefers to meet them in the British capital.

The commission will also interview CNN's Wolf Blitzer, who reportedly received an email through Ms Bhutto's confidant in Washington, Mark

Siegal that if anything happened to her she would hold Musharraf “responsible” because his government did not do enough for her security.

The commission, which began its work on 1 July, will submit a report to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon within six months. Mr Ban will then share the report with the government and submit it to the Security Council for information.