Key Benazir Bhutto assassination witness shot dead

The body of personal security guard of slain former Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto, Khalid Shahenshah is removed from a hospital in Karachi Photo: AFP / GETTY

Khalid Shahenshah, who was the former Pakistan prime minister's security chief at the time of her assassination, was killed in a drive-by shooting as he left his house in the southern port city of Karachi on Tuesday, police said.

Mr Shahenshah, 45, was riding in Mrs Bhutto's bullet-proof car when she was killed in a suicide attack in the northern city of Rawalpindi on December 27.

He was expected to be called to give evidence at a United Nations probe into her death.

"He was a key witness in the case and was also interviewed by the Scotland Yard experts who came to Pakistan to investigate her killing," said Waqar Mehdi, the junior information minister of Sindh province.

"There is a possibility that his killing could be linked to his status as a witness, although investigations are still underway."

A team of Scotland Yard detectives concluded in February that Mrs Bhutto was killed by a suicide bomb and not by gunfire, backing the previous Pakistani government's claim the attack was masterminded by Baitullah Mehsud, Pakistan's top Taliban commander.

But the UN earlier this month agreed to set up an independent panel to investigate her slaying, following a request by Pakistan's new government.

In elections held in February, a coalition led by Mrs Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) defeated allies of President Pervez Musharraf, who seized power in a military coup in 1999.

PPP officials have accused Pakistan's powerful military and intelligence services of involvement in her killing, rejecting suggestion the Taliban were responsible.

Party officials suspect that more than one attacker was involved in the murder.

Hundreds of mourners attended the funeral of Mr Shahenshah, a father of three, in Karachi. He was most recently employed as a security chief at the home of Mrs Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari.

Police have recovered the car which Mr Shahenshah's assailants used in his murder and were still investigating, Iqbal Mehmood, a senior Karachi police official said.

Zulfikar Mirza, the Sindh home minister, said it was "premature to say that Khalid was killed for being a witness in Benazir Bhutto's assassination case".

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