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Report: Bhutto died of skull fracture

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- Pakistan said Benazir Bhutto was not hit by a bullet or shrapnel but died of a skull fracture after hitting her car's moon roof, CNN reported Friday.

The Pakistan opposition political leader died Thursday at a political rally in the garrison city of Rawalpindi as she campaigned for parliamentary elections set for Jan. 8.

Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Javed Iqbal Cheema told a news conference in Islamabad nothing entered Bhutto's head.

Cheema showed images of Bhutto in a car in which she was seen standing up through an open moon roof. He said when gunshots rang out followed by an explosion, the 54-year-old leader "fell down or perhaps ducked" and apparently hit her head on a lever, CNN reported. He said the lever was stained with blood.

Earlier reports carried by the official Pakistan news agency quoted the ministry saying that Bhutto was killed by shrapnel from the suicide bomb that went off as she stood up through the moon roof. At least 28 people died in the attack.

There had also been reports Bhutto was killed by bullets fired by the suicide bomber.

Cheema said Friday the government had an intelligence intercept showing al-Qaida was behind the attack, with a militant congratulating his followers for the assassination.

CNN reported the claim had not appeared on radical Islamist Web sites where such messages are routinely posted.

Bhutto e-mail partly blames Musharraf

WASHINGTON, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- Benazir Bhutto reportedly wrote a U.S. friend Oct. 26 Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf would be partly to blame if she was killed, which occurred Thursday.

In the Oct. 26 e-mail, the former two-time Prime Minister, assassinated at a Rawalpindi political rally, mentioned Musharraf also should be held responsible if she were to die, CNN reported Friday.

The e-mail reportedly was written to Mark Siegel, Bhutto's U.S. spokesman, lobbyist and friend. The report said Siegel sent the message to correspondent Wolf Blitzer with instruction the contents not be aired unless Bhutto was killed.

Bhutto escaped a suicide bomb attack Oct. 18 on her motorcade in Karachi where thousands had gathered to welcome her return from an eight-year self-imposed exile in Dubai. The attack killed about 140 people.

Her return had been facilitated by Musharraf. But in her e-mail she had complained of inadequate security.

"Nothing will, God willing happen," she wrote Siegel. "Just wanted u to know if it does in addition to the names in my letter to Musharaf of Oct 16nth, I wld hold Musharaf responsible. I have been made to feel insecure by his minions …"

Pakistan's U.S. ambassador Mahmud Ali Durrani has said Musharraf's government provided Bhutto with unprecedented security.

Speaking to CNN's The Situation Room, Siegel also said, "She was moving almost in a sea of humanity. No system in the world can protect you against that."

Zoe's Ark workers returned to France

PARIS, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- The six French aid workers accused of kidnapping children from African refugee camps in Chad have arrived in France to serve their prison sentences.

Chadian officials sentenced four men and two women with the charitable organization Zoe's Ark to eight years of hard labor for allegedly kidnapping 103 children from their families and trying to send them to Europe.

The convicted pleaded not guilty, claiming benevolence in their actions in trying to rescue orphans from Sudan's war-torn Darfur region, the Daily Telegraph said Friday.

The French aid workers claim local officials duped them into attempting to foster the children in Europe although many of the children were not orphans and living with parents or close relatives.

Officials in Chad sentenced two local officials, a Chadian and a Sudanese, to four years for "complicity in attempted kidnap of children," the newspaper said.

Chad released the aid workers to French custody under a 1976 bilateral accord. They likely will serve shorter sentences in France and not perform hard labor, the BBC reported.

Nepal parliament abolishes monarchy

KATHMANDU, Nepal, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- The Nepalese interim parliament Friday voted to abolish the world's only Hindu kingdom's 240-year-old monarchy and declare the Himalayan state a republic.

The bill approved by 270 lawmakers in the 321-member assembly is expected to be formally endorsed at the first meeting of the new Constituent Assembly to be elected in April, eKantipur.com reported.

The changes have been made under a deal to immediately return Nepal's former Maoist rebels into the interim government. The rebels quit in September to press demands to make Nepal a republic and give them proportional representation in the new assembly. The political crisis had threatened to undo the peace process put in place last year to end the decadelong Maoist insurgency.

The current monarch King Gyanendra, whose autocratic rule was largely blamed for the problems, has already been reduced to a figure head.

Friday's parliamentary vote requires the new assembly to remove the king instead of deciding the issue on its own.

The bill also requires to the Constituent Assembly to have 601 seats, of which 240 would be elected under the first-past-the-post system, 335 through proportional representation and the rest through nomination by a council of ministers.

Arson suspects arrested in abortion fire

ALBUQUERQUE, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- New Mexico authorities arrested two men for allegedly setting a doctor's office ablaze after one of the men learned his ex-girlfriend scheduled an abortion.

The U.S. District Court in Albuquerque charged Clad Altman, 24, and Sergio Baca, 22, with arson involving a fire at the offices of Dr. Curtis Boyd on Dec. 6, the Albuquerque Journal said Friday.

Authorities accuse the men of breaking a window to gain entry to the office and using gasoline to set the fire before fleeing the scene in Altman's van.

"The girlfriend was scheduled to go to an appointment, and (Baca) allegedly intervened," said Albuquerque Fire Capt. Mike Paiz.

Officials with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrested the men following tips that led investigators to Baca's roommate who said he encountered the men smelling of gasoline.

Investigators plan to use DNA technology to determine if a genetic match exists between the suspects and hair fibers found at the scene.

Paiz told the newspaper that investigators are examining the possibility that the men were involved in a string of incidents at other Albuquerque family planning clinics.

Altman and Baca both deny involvement in the fire.

Tax season delayed for millions

WASHINGTON, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- Up to 13.5 million Americans must wait until mid-February to begin filing tax returns as the IRS scrambles to incorporate late tax-code changes from Congress.

Taxpayers who use five forms related to the alternative minimum tax will have to wait an extra month before they're allowed to file so the Internal Revenue Service can reprogram computers, The Washington Post said.

The delay affects those filing for tax credits for education, residential energy use, child- and dependent-care expenses, mortgage interest and the purchase of a first home by residents of the District of Columbia. The IRS estimates that the change will affect up to 4 million taxpayers who typically file early.

"We regret the inconvenience the delay will mean for millions of early tax filers, especially those expecting a refund," acting IRS Commissioner Linda Stiff told the Post.

Congress approved the one-year change to the alternative minimum tax last week.