Islamabad: Ruling out a probe by international bodies into the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto, the Pakistan government today offered to exhume her body to conduct an autopsy to settle a controversy over how she had died.

Though the government had said that Bhutto died after hitting her head on a metal lever in her bulletproof vehicle during a suicide attack in Rawalpindi on Thursday, the former premier's aide Sherry Rehman today contended that she was shot in the head by the attacker.

"If there is any doubt, if Sherry Rehman says she has seen the bullet wound, we don't mind. If the Pakistan People's Party's leadership wants, her (Bhutto's) body can be exhumed and a post-mortem (can be done). They are most welcome but we gave you the facts," interior ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema told a news conference.

Cheema dismissed calls for an investigation by international bodies into the assassination.

"This is not an ordinary criminal matter in which you require the assistance of the international community. I think we are capable of handling it.

"This is an act of terrorism which has its own dynamics with links to Waziristan and our tribal areas. We understand our environment better than the international community. The Scotland Yard can't conduct an inquiry in Waziristan," he said.

Sherry Rehman, who was with Bhutto when the PPP chief was attacked by a suicide bomber, told PTI that there was a bullet wound at the back of Bhutto's head.

"There was a bullet wound at the back of her head and it (the bullet) was (powerful) enough to come out from the other side," she said.

Source : PTI