It reported that the decision to kill Bhutto was made by Al-Qaeda No Two Ayman al-Zawahiri in October. The report said death squads were allegedly constituted for the mission, and one cell comprising a "Punjabi volunteer" of the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi killed Bhutto.
Bhutto died after being shot by a suicide attacker, who later blew himself up near her armoured vehicles just after she had addressed an election rally at Rawalpindi near here. The blast killed nearly 30 people.
During her campaign to drum up support for Pakistan People's Party, Bhutto had repeatedly attacked elements who were fomenting extremism and militancy in northwestern region of the country and vowed to crack down on militant groups.
Bhutto, who returned to Pakistan from exile two months ago, had earlier survived a suicide attack on her homecoming procession in Karachi on October 18 that killed 140 people and injured hundreds more.
Baitullah Mehsud, a militant leader who was recently made head of Tekrik Taliban-e-Pakistan - a coalition of Pakistani Taliban groups, had reportedly issued threats that he would send suicide bombers to target Bhutto.
