Did Benazir's US links prove to be her undoing?

New Delhi: Did Benazir Bhutto's links with the US administration prove to be her undoing?

There were strong speculations in intelligence circles as well as on media on Friday that Benazir's alignment with the US may have been one reason why the assassins might have targetted the Pakistani Opposition leader.

Benazir was first targetted during her return to the country from her eight years of self-imposed exile on October 19. At least 136 people were killed and 500 others injured when twin suicide bombers attacked her homecoming procession in Karachi. There were enough indications that Benazir had a long and tangled list of enemies.

On Friday even as the world tried to come to terms with the shocking news of Benazir's assassination, an obscure Italian news agency, Adnkronos International (AKI), published a claim by the Al-Qaeda, claiming responsibility for the assassination of the former Pakistani prime minister.

"We terminated the most precious American asset which vowed to defeat [the] mujahadeen," AKI quoted Al-Qaeda's Afghanistan commander and spokesman Mustafa Abu Al-Yazid as saying. The website also said that the decision to assassinate Benazir was made in October by Al Qaeda's No. 2 leader, Ayman Zawahiri.

Asia Times online also claimed to have spoken to Abu al-Yazid on the phone and al Yazid reportedly confirmed his claim during the conversation. "This is our first major victory against those who have been siding with infidels in a fight against Al-Qaeda and declared a war against mujahideen," he said.

While the FBI, US Department of Homeland Security and other security agencies are still trying to confirm the veracity of these claims, it is slowly becoming clearer that there was a list of people and groups which considered Benazir an arch enemy because of her alignment with the US and her vow to crack down on the increasingly popular radicalism spreading through the country.

Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud too had earlier issued threats against Benazir for her anti-jehadi stand. Benazir had time and again pledged to reform Pakistan in ways that would upset entrenched political interests, powerful fundamentalist religious organizations, and Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

A Washington Post report on Friday said the US intelligence agencies were drawing up their own list of possible suspects in the assassination of Benazir and that list too includes Al-Qaeda.

More than the US connection itself, the Bush administration feels Al-Qaeda could have targetted Benazir "as she had spoken several times against Islamic terrorism during her campaign." Also, the outfit stood to gain the most by eliminating Benazir, they feel.

The US list of suspects reportedly also includes elements of Pakistan's own intelligence service. US officials told Washington Post that "it is equally plausible that the assassination was carried out with the support - or at least the tacit approval - of Pakistani government employees."

Most of the officials expressed doubt, however, that President Pervez Musharraf himself would have approved the killing.