CIA: Tribal leader's allies killed Bhutto

WASHINGTON, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- The director of the CIA said the death of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was the work of al-Qaida members and followers of a tribal leader.

CIA Director Michael Hayden said the agency has concluded that fighters allied with Pakistani tribal leader Baitullah Mehsud -- with support from the al-Qaida terrorist network -- were behind Bhutto's assassination, as well as the wave of violence that threatens to destabilize Pakistan, The Washington Post reported Friday.

Hayden said the alliance between extremists at the local and international level is a threat to the government of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.

"What you see is, I think, a change in the character of what's going on there," he told the Post in an interview. "You've got this nexus now that probably was always there in latency but is now active: a nexus between al-Qaida and various extremist and separatist groups."

"It is clear that their intention is to continue to try to do harm to the Pakistani state as it currently exists," Hayden said.