Lead prosecutor in the murder case of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has been gunned down and killed in Islamabad, Pakistan Friday, The New York Times reports.
Police officials confirmed the shooting and death of Chaudry Zulfikar Ali, according to the Times.
Zulfikar Ali was reportedly on his was to court when he was shot multiple times. He was scheduled to attend a hearing regarding the bail of former president Pervez Musharraf. General Musharraf returned to Pakistan after nearly four years of self-imposed exile and is currently under house arrest.
Initial reports of the incident suggest the assassins were travelling on a motorbike and car and showered Zulfikar Ali's car with bullets. The prosecutor's bodyguard was wounded and a woman was killed when Zulfikar Ali's car lost control and dashed into the woman's car. A reporter present at the scene said one of the gunmen was injured when Zulfikar Ali's bodyguard began shooting, but managed to escape with his accomplices.
A doctor at the hospital where Zulfikar Ali's body was brought confirmed the prosecutor had been shot 13 times. Zulfikar Ali was part of the Federal Investigation Agency, which suggested that Musharraf might be implicated in the assassination of Bhutto, December 2007.
He was also crucial in bringing to trial seven people who were charged with planning the Mumbai attacks of November 2008. The people reportedly belonged to the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba. After a court hearing on April 30, Zulfikar Ali reportedly told the media that he was in possession of "solid evidence" that linked Musharraf to Bhutto's death.
