Islamabad: British detectives investigating the assassination of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto examined today the partial remains of people killed in the suicide blast, officials said.

The anti-terrorism specialists visited the Rawalpindi morgue where the remains of some of the 23 victims of the gun and suicide bomb attack have been kept since the December 27 assassination.

"The team visited the mortuary where they examined unidentified limbs, took photographs and collected samples of shreds and pieces collected from the blast site," a Pakistani security official told AFP, requesting anonymity.

They also took a statement from Deputy Superintendent Police Ishtiaq Shah who was wounded in the attack and was being treated in the garrison town's Combined Military Hospital.

Bhutto's murder as she left a political rally sparked nationwide unrest and forced the delay of key parliamentary elections seen as a vital step on the country's return to full democracy after eight years of military-led rule.

President Pervez Musharraf invited Scotland Yard to help with the investigation amid widespread disbelief at the authorities initial findings on her cause of death and their shambolic efforts at gathering evidence.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack and the perpetrators are believed to have died in the bomb blast. The government has blamed a local Al-Qaeda leader but he has denied any involvement.

Musharraf has since backed away from the interior ministry's initial assessment that the two time prime minister died from hitting her head against her car sunroof due to the shockwave caused by the bomb blast.

Source : PTI