Pakistan accuses al Qaeda of killing Bhutto

By Robert Birsel

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan accused al Qaeda of killing opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, whose assassination has plunged the nuclear-armed country into crisis and triggered bloody protests.

But Bhutto's party dismissed the official explanation and said President Pervez Musharraf's embattled administration was trying to cover up its failure to protect her.

Officials said at least 31 people had died in violence since a suicide attacker killed the 54-year-old former prime minister on Thursday, stoking fears a January 8 election meant to restore civilian rule in the U.S. ally could be put off.

The violence still had Pakistanis on edge on Saturday.

"There's a lot of rioting going on in my neighborhood, Clifton. Everything has been burned up. Shops have been looted," Ali Khan, 36, country manager for Audi Pakistan, told Reuters as he stood outside his Audi garage in Karachi's business district.

He said he had heard another company's garage was burnt down, "so that's why I'm picking up one of our cars," he said.

Late on Friday, Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema told a news conference: "We have intelligence intercepts indicating that al Qaeda leader Baitullah Mehsud is behind (Bhutto's) assassination."

Mehsud is one of Pakistan's most wanted militant leaders and is based in the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border. Cheema said authorities recorded an intercept on Friday in which Mehsud had congratulated his people for the attack.