How was Benazir Bhutto killed? Was she shot before she ducked into the car? How many shots were fired? Scotland Yard may be trying to crack the puzzle but according to a note from National Security Advisor M K Narayanan to all Chief Ministers, she was gunned down by a motor-cycle-borne assassin who managed to fire five shots at her “exposed head and neck” before detonating himself.

In a letter written on December 28, a day after Bhutto was killed in Rawalpindi, Narayanan claims that she died of gunshot injuries to her head and neck. “The motor-cycle borne assailant managed to fire five shots at her from an automatic weapon before detonating himself,” the NSA wrote. Adding that the PPP leader collapsed in her bullet-proof vehicle after being hit.

The NSA claims that the assassins must have profiled Benazir Bhutto as they knew that she could “seldom resist large crowds greeting her” and that led to exposing her head and neck to the killers. He goes on to add that either Bhutto would have been killed at that spot or elsewhere on that day as the assassination shows careful planning and specific detailing by the jehadis.

Warning Chief Ministers to take specific security precautions, the NSA reminded them about a presentation on “Emerging Terror Threat: New Wave Tactics” he had made at the internal security conference in the capital and later at the PM’s dinner on December 20. He said that the Prime Minister and the Home Minister had asked him to write this letter and alert them about the growing jehadi capability on planning sophisticated terror attacks.

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