Pakistan's late opposition leader Benazir Bhutto died after hitting her head following a December suicide bombing and not of a gunshot, Scotland Yard investigators have concluded.
A summary of their report, released Friday, supports the Pakistani government's explanation of how Bhutto was killed.
British Home Office pathologist Dr. Nathaniel Cary is quoted as saying the "only tenable cause" for her head injury was the impact of the blast that happened as she waved to supporters through the sunroof of her vehicle.
"In my opinion Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto died as a result of a severe head injury sustained as a consequence of the bomb-blast and due to head impact somewhere in the escape hatch of the vehicle," Cary said in the report, released by the British High Commission in Islamabad.
The three-member British team was asked to examine exactly how Bhutto died during an election rally in the northern city of Rawalpindi on Dec. 27. There has been much debate over whether she was killed by an assassin's gunshot or the impact of the suicide bombing that followed.
A Pakistan Interior Ministry spokesman said on the night of Bhutto's death that she was killed by a "bullet wound in the neck by a suicide bomber," according to the official Pakistani news agency.
The Pakistani government later suggested she died after her head was thrust against the sunroof lever of her vehicle as a bomb went off nearby.
Musharraf has publicly blamed Bhutto for her own demise, saying she should have been more cautious when sticking her head out of the open-roofed vehicle she was riding in.
Shooter also bomber, says report
Many others, including Bhutto's family and members of her Pakistan Peoples Party, have stood by initial reports that she was shot in the chest and neck by a gunman observed at the scene. Video of the incident shows a man standing behind Bhutto's car and firing a handgun three times toward the vehicle before the bomb blast.
"We disagree with the finding on the cause of the death," said Sherry Rehman, spokeswoman for Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party, on Friday. "She died from a bullet injury. This was and is our position."
Rehman also questioned Scotland Yard's ability to properly do their job, saying investigators were "working under the Pakistani police."
The Scotland Yard report concluded the man who fired the gun was the same person who blew himself up.
"In essence, all the evidence indicates that one suspect has fired the shots before detonating an improvised explosive device," the report said.
Investigators examined X-rays, video
The report notes that despite the lack of a detailed search of the crime scene or autopsy of Bhutto's body, "the evidence that is available is sufficient for reliable conclusions to be drawn." Investigators relied on X-rays and detailed examination of video footage of the attack, it said.
At least 20 other people were killed in the incident.
People in Pakistan have said they believe her death was the responsibility of her opponent, Musharraf, who was under increasing pressure to relinquish power.
Countrywide violence and protests followed news of her death, which elevated the one-time prime minister to martyr status among her followers.
In another development, Pakistani authorities Thursday arrested two more suspects in connection with the attack, adding to the two detained last month. Included in the list of arrested suspects is a 15-year-old boy alleged to have been part of a suicide squad assigned to kill Bhutto.Thursday also marked the end of a 40-day mourning period, which prompted a gathering of 10,000 mourners outside the Bhutto family's mausoleum in the southern province of Sindh.
The Pakistan Peoples Party, now led by Bhutto's husband, Zardari, is poised to begin campaigning for the elections, which were postponed six weeks due to her death.
