Officials: "Bhutto killed by bomb shrapnel"; Didn't the doctor say a bullet in her spine?

[DeepModem Mom]

CNN: Bhutto was killed by bomb shrapnel

...It was initially reported that Bhutto, 54, was killed by the bullets of an assassin who blew himself up after firing the shots following a public rally in Rawalpindi on Thursday. But government officials said Friday that a medical report confirmed that Bhutto was killed by shrapnel from the blast -- from which at least 28 more people died and at least 100 were wounded.

The shrapnel hit the right side of her skull, Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier Javed Iqbal Cheema said. The bomber did shoot at Bhutto with a pistol, but she had no bullet injury.

An Interior Ministry spokesman also told the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan that terrorist group al Qaeda had claimed responsibility for the assassination. However, that claim has not appeared on radical Islamist Web sites that regularly post such messages from al Qaeda and other militant groups. The Interior Ministry also told Pakistan's GEO-TV that the suicide bomber belonged to Lashkar-e-Jhangvi -- an al Qaeda-linked Sunni Muslim militant group that the government has blamed for hundreds of killings....

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/12/28/pakistan.friday/index.html

AP: ....Bhutto was rushed into surgery. A doctor on the surgical team said a bullet in the back of her neck damaged her spinal cord before exiting from the side of her head. Another bullet pierced the back of her shoulder and came out through her chest, he said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. She was given an open-heart massage, but the spinal cord damage was too great, he said....

"At 6:16 p.m. she expired," said Wasif Ali Khan, a member of Bhutto's party who was at Rawalpindi General Hospital....

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jIE0IUn4WIiaMBpjG8SI_6H5RXzgD8TQAM480

[TechBear_Seattle]

1. "Collateral damage" makes her less of a martyr than "target of an assassin"

The very last thing Musharraf needs right now is a martyred political opponent.

[dipsydoodle]

2. Reasonably safe assumption,

I would guess, that as whatever it was both entered and exited it may have been difficult to determine whether it was a bullet or shrapnel. Some Vets here may know the answer to that. Only thing I've read about bullets of late was ref. the Brazilian who was shot in London. The 7 bullets the police used were specifically designed to spin after entry : not to exit - just act like a multitude of food mixers inside his head.

[DeepModem Mom]

3. That's what I was wondering -- is it difficult to tell a difference? nt

[K Gardner]

4. Now they're saying she "hit her head on the car" and didn't

die from shrapnel OR a bullet wound. Good god.. smells more each minute.

[bicentennial_baby]

5. Yes, and also that they didn't do an autopsy

So.... :eyes:

And, Al Qaeda did it.

[Strelnikov_]

6. (CNN) Just showed an interview with the Doctor who treated her

saying that she had a large head wound.

Boy, this is going to be helpful.

Mushie and his boys are even more incompetent than the Chimp gang.

[tekisui]

7. same gang.

Just local chapters.

[DeepModem Mom]

8. I thought your post was a joke until I saw it on the MSNBC crawl!!! nt