The original report was that she was struck by shrapnel. The next report was that a sniper shot her with an AK-47. I reported that to FR, then got a report of the actual wound damage and bullet path. Minutes later I got a correction that the wounds were caused by 9mm rounds, so I posted a correction.
It was some minutes after that that I got a report that a 9mm semi-automatic pistol had been recovered and that the assassin blew up after the crowd grabbed him.
Unclear whether the assassin blew himself up or was blown up by remote control by a one of the other two assassins.
I think he blew himself up because Bhuttos vehicle carried RF jammers to prevent remote signal or cell phone usage near her vehicle. The assassins likely knew that.
Also, the three assassins were operationally independent and carrying bombs, looking for an opening, none in control of the other.
For the record, she was not in a jeep but a white armored Land Rover and was wearing kevlar.
Finally, Bhutto suffered from terminal arrogance. That along with Musharraf’s refusal to let her have western security forces (that would have prevented this) caused her death.
To explain further, the bullet struck the back of her neck vertebrae, shattering it and destroying the spinal cord, thus causing immediate paralysis and the heart and lungs to stop. The bullet then traveled up and out the left side of her head, exiting.
Thanks for the chronology. Agree with your point on arrogance and if she was going to insist on acting like this I am not sure any security force in the world could really have protected her. As close as that crowd was pressed around that car and given the size of it, it doesn’t seem like anyone could have reacted quickly enough to prevent something like this from happening.
The refusal to let Blackwater or their equivalents at least try to protect her though, if substantiated, certainly is another thing making the government look bad.