ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's main government prosecutor in the murder case of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was shot dead in Islamabad on Friday en route to the next hearing at the anti-terror court, police said.
State prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar was shot multiple times by gunmen who intercepted his vehicle in a busy, middle-class neighbourhood of the capital. His bodyguard was also wounded and a woman passer-by killed.
"Chaudhry Zulfiqar was driving his car. He lost control and the car crushed a woman passer-by," police officer Mohammad Yousuf told AFP.
"Zulfiqar was rushed to hospital where he succumbed to his injuries," he added
Police said the gunmen fled on a motorbike.
The prosecutor was on his way to the anti-terrorism court hearing the Bhutto case in the neighbouring city of Rawalpindi.
Former military ruler Pervez Musharraf was this week placed under two-week house arrest over charges that he conspired to murder Bhutto.
Zulfiqar had been given extra government security last year after police investigators working on the case received threats, which also named him.
It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the shooting.
"I cannot comment. I'm in a state of shock," Zulfiqar's deputy Azhar Chaudhry told AFP when asked to comment.
Wasim Khawaja, spokesman for Islamabad's main government-run PIMS hospital, told AFP that Zulfiqar's bodyguard was out of danger.
Nobody has ever been convicted or jailed for Bhutto's assassination in a gun and suicide attack after a campaign rally in Rawalpindin on December 27, 2007.
Musharraf's government blamed the killing on Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who denied any involvement and was killed in a US drone attack in 2009.
Bhutto's son, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who is chairman of the outgoing main ruling Pakistan People's Party, has accused Musharraf of her murder.
In 2010 a UN report said Bhutto's death could have been prevented and accused Musharraf's government of failing to give her adequate protection.
Musharraf, who ruled from 1999-2008, returned to Pakistan on March 24 to contest next week's general election, but has been barred from running for parliament over a series of legal cases dating back to his time in office.
He was first put under house arrest for sacking judges in 2007 when he imposed emergency rule, before also being detained in the Bhutto case.
On Thursday, he was questioned by police over the death of a Baluch rebel leader, who died during a military operation ordered by Musharraf in 2006. (AFP)
