ISLAMABAD, 8 February 2008 — Following two weeks of work in London, under tight security, a Scotland Yard team arrived here yesterday to submit its final report to Pakistani authorities on the Dec. 27 assassination of Benazir Bhutto. The report is reportedly going to be handed over today.

“They informed us that they would submit their report by Friday,” Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Javed Iqbal Cheema said.

British Embassy spokesman Aidan Liddle also confirmed the report would be presented to the government this week.

Asked if the team would investigate further, Cheema said it would depend on the circumstances.

The government frequently said the investigators’ task was to give their opinion on the cause of Benazir’s death to bring to an end a controversy over exactly how she died.

Initially, the government said the former two-time premier died from a fatal blow to the skull when she hit the sunroof while hurriedly withdrawing into a vehicle after a powerful suicide blast at an election rally. But her party and media reports said she died of wounds from bullets fired by an assassin from a very close range as she stood waving to party workers.

Musharraf later admitted that it was possible Benazir might have been shot dead. Her Pakistan People’s Party demanded a United Nations probe into her death but the government has rejected this.

Benazir had accused several senior government and intelligence officials of plotting to kill her following a double suicide attack on a parade to welcome her home from exile in October.

The government said it would make Scotland Yard’s findings public.

2 More Suspects Arrested

Meanwhile, Cheema also announced that Pakistani police arrested two more suspects involved in Benazir’s assassination in Rawalpindi yesterday.

Last month, authorities in northwestern Pakistan said they had arrested two other suspects, including a 15-year-old boy who was alleged to have been part of the suicide squad assigned to kill her.

US and Pakistani officials believe Baitullah Mehsud, an Al-Qaeda-linked commander based in South Waziristan, masterminded the assassination. Mehsud is the leader of Tehrik-e-Taleban Pakistan, a militant umbrella group that has been battling government forces in the remote, rugged tribal area along the border with Afghanistan.

On Wednesday, the Taleban announced an indefinite cease-fire with Pakistani forces. President Pervez Musharraf’s government did not confirm a truce, but Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz said the national leadership was ready for a dialogue with the Taleban.

Two Pakistani officials said yesterday that their government held secret talks with Taleban fighters and tribal elders near the Afghan border before the cease-fire. The officials, who were familiar with the talks, said they took place at an undisclosed location in South Waziristan. The officials would not say who represented the government or how long the dialogue had been going on.

— With input from agencies