Pakistani investigators probing the suicide attack on former premier Benazir Bhutto's motorcade last week are questioning about 20 people and have made headway in making up the head of the second suicide bomber involved in the strike.
Officials involved in the probe said some 20 people, including a few who were wounded in the devastating blasts that killed nearly 140 people, were being held for questioning. These people were currently not being treated as suspects, they said.
The identities of those who are being questioned were not disclosed.
Sleuths have also made progress in reconstructing the severed head of the suspected second suicide bomber, which was found in a badly mutilated condition several hours after the blasts that occurred at around midnight Thursday.
Officials had initially said only one suicide bomber was involved in the attack, but have now come to the conclusion that two men were behind the most devastating terrorist strike witnessed by Pakistan. The head of the first suicide bomber was found largely intact soon after the blasts.
The head of the second bomber was reconstructed by doctors at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre here with the
Sources said the reconstruction process was aided by the fact that sleuths had found pieces of the scalp with hair, parts of the eyes and nose and the beard of the suicide bomber while scouring the site of the attack.
More details have also emerged about the attacks. The second suicide bomber has been identified by persons near Bhutto's armoured truck as a man who attempted to get close to it several times, but was turned away by the PPP volunteers guarding it.
Finally, he tried to get under the truck, but was stopped by the volunteers. At this point, he blew himself up.
Meanwhile, authorities have taken steps to limit the role of DIG (Investigation) Mazoor Mughal in the probe after the PPP expressed reservations about his involvement in the
investigation, Dawn News Channel reported.
Bhutto had sought his removal from the probe, saying he was the police official in-charge when her husband Asif Ali Zardari was alleged tortured by police in Karachi some years ago.
Sources said Mughal had decided to go on leave to ensure there was "no hint of partiality" about the probe.