Lahore: The October 18 suicide attacks on the welcome procession of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in Karachi were masterminded by some highly-placed officials in the Pakistani intelligence establishment.

The officials had hired an Al-Qaeda linked militant — Maulvi Abdul Rehman Otho alias Abdul Rehman Sindhi — to execute the attack. The bombings killed 150 PPP supporters.

Well-placed sources in the Pakistani intelligence establishment claim that the inquest into the deadly bombing has been wrapped up under instructions from the Musharraf regime.

Benazir had accused the director general of the Intelligence Bureau Brigadier Ejaz Hussain Shah of involvement in the attack.

The intelligence officials confided while requesting anonymity that the October 18 attack bore signature of Al-Qaeda, which usually hires local militants to carry out terrorist activities.

They added that at least three local militants were reportedly hired to carry out the bombings by Maulvi Abdul Rehman Otho alias Abdul Rehman Sindhi, an Al-Qaeda-linked LeJ militant, who originally comes from Dadu district of Sindh.

“Rehman is called Sindhi because he is linked to the Al-Qaeda and those running the terror group’s infrastructure in Pakistan generally code-name people with their language or nationality a la Al-Arabi or Al-Iraqi. Sindhi had sought  shelter in Afghanistan during the Taliban regime and obtained training in militancy before returning to Pakistan.

Abdul Rehman Sindhi was linked to Al-Qaeda’s logistics manager Abu Zubaida.

The intelligence sources believe Abdul Rehman Sindhi had the approval of some jihadi-minded high and mighty in Pakistani intelligence establishment to carry out the bombing.

Otherwise it was impossible to carry out the bombing considering the high level of security provided to the PPP chairperson.

Abdul Rehman had finalised the attack at his undercover office in Karachi’s Gulistan-e-Johar locality, after his June 2004 arrest. 

He was arrested for his involvement in the May 2004 twin car bombings blasts in front of the US Cultural Centre. However, he was mysteriously released by the authorities before Benazir’s homecoming.

Source : DNAIndia