The Pakistani detective who solved the 2002 murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl has joined the investigation into the killing of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.

Zubair Mahmood will work with a team of British detectives to investigate the assassination, which plunged Pakistan into turmoil and forced the postponement of key elections.

Daniel Pearl was kidnapped in Karachi in 2002 and beheaded by Al Qaeda's number three, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Mr Zubair was the lead investigator and unearthed the gang of Islamic militants who planned and carried out the killing of Mr Pearl.

An interior ministry official says Mr Zubair's experience in handling high-profile cases will be invaluable.

Mr Zubair was also sent to the West Indies last year to assist Jamaican police in their investigation into the death of Pakistan cricket team coach Bob Woolmer.

Mr Zubair's role in the Pearl murder probe featured heavily in the 2007 film A Mighty Heart based on the book of the same name by Mariane Pearl, the journalist's widow.

Bhutto investigation

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

Her supporters have accused the Government of failing to protect Ms Bhutto - who headed Pakistan's most powerful political dynasty - after a suicide bombing attempt on her life in October.

They have called for an independent UN-led probe into the murder, but Mr Musharraf, who met the Scotland Yard team today, has ruled out any further foreign involvement in the inquiry.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack and the man believed to have shot Ms Bhutto died in the bomb blast.

Ms Bhutto's assassination triggered riots that left at least 58 people dead and forced general elections to be delayed by almost six weeks. They are now planned for February 18.

The Government has blamed a local Al Qaeda leader, but he has denied any role in the killing.

Initial finding

Mr 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 from the bomb blast.

Aides from her political party who were with her at the time insist she was killed by a shot to the head from a gunman who was seen firing at least three rounds from close range as Ms Bhutto waved to supporters through her car sunroof.

The confusion has fuelled suspicions among Bhutto loyalists that the Government is trying to cover up what it knows about the murder, after Ms Bhutto had publicly accused senior officials of plotting to kill her.

The British detectives, who arrived last week, inspected the crime scene and Ms Bhutto's car over the weekend but have made no statements to the media.

Much of the evidence is believed to have been destroyed in the hours after the attack when officials hosed down the crime scene, and no autopsy of Ms Bhutto's body was carried out, due to her family's objections.

- AFP