KARACHI, 21 October 2007 — Pakistani investigators released a photograph of the Karachi bomber’s head and said they were questioning three people over an attack on former Premier Benazir Bhutto’s homecoming parade on Thursday that killed 139 people.

The men had links to a car from which one of the attackers threw a grenade into the parade in Karachi seconds before a suicide bomber blew himself up, he said.

Investigators also quizzed seven militants in jails in Karachi for possible information on the blasts, added the investigator.

Benazir said she had sent President Pervez Musharraf the names of three people she accused of involvement in Thursday’s blast, which ripped through a crowd of hundreds of thousands who welcomed her back to Karachi. Investigators were probing the list of possible suspects given by her.

“I have shared the names with Gen. Musharraf and one of the people is someone that they are (already) watching,” Benazir told the BBC in an interview, but refused to give their names.

The 54-year-old has blamed militants for the attack and said she did not believe that the “state or government” were involved, but sources in her party said the list included senior army officials, without elaborating.

The militant threat demonstrated to such devastating effect in Karachi on Friday raised fears over the prospects for a national election due in early January that is supposed to mark a transition from military-led to civilian-led democracy.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said the general election would not be affected but government officials had indicated that campaigning could be restricted because of security worries.

Newspapers carried photographs of the head of the suicide bomber propped on a white sheet. The dead eyes stared blankly out of a chubby, unshaven face.

“The age of the suspect is between 20 to 25 and he looks to be a Karachiite,” said a security official. Suicide bombings have multiplied since the army stormed the Red Mosque in Islamabad to crush an armed student movement in July.

The United States and its allies want to see elections go-ahead in nuclear-armed Pakistan in the hope that a moderate, pro-Western government will emerge to fight the Al-Qaeda and Taleban threat and help Western forces stabilize Afghanistan.

Washington is believed to have quietly promoted an alliance between Benazir and its ally President Pervez Musharraf, the army chief who came to power in a coup in 1999.

For now, Benazir has put on ice plans to go to Larkana, a town 240 km northeast of Karachi, to pray at the tomb of her father, Zulfiqar Ali Benazir, Pakistan’s first popularly elected prime minister, who was deposed and executed after another military coup three decades ago.

“We are observing a three-day mourning over the tragedy. The mourning will end on Sunday and then she will decide about her next plans,” said party spokeswoman Sherry Rehman. Angry Benazir supporters burned tires, threw rocks at cars and forced shops to shut in Karachi yesterday but there were no reports of casualties, police said.

The hundreds of thousands of supporters who turned out to greet Benazir 10 years after she last held power, and eight years since she went into self-imposed exile, showed she retained more mass appeal than any other Pakistani politician. Investigators’ main focus will be on who sent the bomber. Government officials have said the culprits were Islamist militants but they are uncertain which group.

Meanwhile, There is speculation that Musharraf might share power with Benazir after the elections. But there is opposition to any partnership from within the ruling Pakistan Muslim League, a collection of politicians who Musharraf pulled under his banner.

A top security official met with Benazir’s aide yesterday to chalk out plans to forge a working relationship between democratic forces and Musharraf. Secretary National Security Tariq Aziz and senior leader of Benazir’s party and former Director General of Federal Investigation Agency Rehman Malik held talks in Islamabad yesterday.