6 Nov 2011

Charges brought over killing of Bhutto

8:52 am on 6 November 2011

An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan has charged two senior police officers over the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007.

Prosecutors said they were charged with security breaches and failure to protect her.

Five suspected members of the Taliban have also been charged with criminal conspiracy over Ms Bhutto's death.

One of the accused was the police chief in Rawalpindi at the time of the killing.

The BBC reports he and the other police officer were arrested nearly a year ago. The other suspects have been in custody for nearly four years.

They are accused of bringing a suicide bomber from Pakistan's tribal areas to Rawalpindi to carry out the attack on 27 December 2007.

Two other suspects remain at large.

The accused were indicted during a hearing in a high security prison in Rawalpindi, a garrison city near the capital Islamabad, where Ms Bhutto was killed. They deny the charges.

Ms Bhutto was Pakistan's prime minister from from 1988 to 1990 and from 1993 to 1996.