Policeman Linked to Bhutto Death Reportedly Slain

Gunmen killed a policeman involved in the shooting death of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s brother, the officer’s son said Saturday.

Inspector Haq Nawaz Sayyal, 55, was killed in his bed by two gunmen who sneaked into his home inside a residential police compound in Karachi, said his son, Muzaffar.

He said the gunmen used silencers to muffle the shots, then fled without harming anyone else.

“I don’t know whether they were police officers themselves, or Murtaza Bhutto’s men,” Muzaffar said.

But the city’s police chief, Shoaib Suddle, said Sayyal committed suicide with his own .38 caliber pistol because he couldn’t bear the media attention following the Sept. 20 shootout in which Murtaza Bhutto was killed.

Sayyal was suspended after the shooting. Last week a medical board concluded that a gunshot wound Sayyal said he suffered in the shootout was self-inflicted.

Murtaza Bhutto was killed after police stopped his motorcade outside his Karachi home following a rally against his sister.