Episode 8: The Assassin’s Journey

February 14, 2018·29 min·2 clips

A 15-year-old took a bus to Waziristan and volunteered for jihad after seeing jihadi CDs.

1. The Assassination: Episode 8, titled “The Assassin’s Journey,” investigates the suspected teenage bomber who killed Benazir Bhutto. 2. BBC World Service presenter Owen Bennett-Jones leads the investigation with Pakistani journalist Ziyad Zafar, who gathered confidential files on the case. 3. The episode asks what the assassin’s remains, background, and route to Rawalpindi reveal about the official investigation. 4. A Rawalpindi police report lists a severed right hand, a partial left hand, and a preserved face mask recovered after the bombing. 5. Scotland Yard sent recovered body parts to a London laboratory, which concluded that several pieces came from the same individual and likely belonged to the bomber. 6. A henna-tattooed right index finger may have belonged to the person who fired the pistol before detonating the bomb. 7. Cambridge researchers used the Greulich and Pyle radiographic atlas to estimate the bomber’s age at 15 years and six months. 8. The documents place the assassin’s origins near South Waziristan, an area described as a centre of Taliban activity and repeated United States drone strikes. 9. Owen Bennett-Jones’s 2014 visit to South Waziristan with the Pakistani army describes an arid tribal area formerly controlled by Taliban forces. 10. Eytizaz Shah’s interrogation describes a 15-year-old travelling from Karachi to Makin, receiving 40 days of training, and later seeking a suicide mission. 11. Shah says jihadi CDs at his cousin’s house inspired him to pursue jihad despite his mother’s refusal. 12. Shah describes training alongside approximately 40 to 50 other boys and an attack on an American army camp in Afghanistan. 13. Shah’s handlers repeatedly discussed sending him to attack Benazir Bhutto, but delays, arrests, and transport problems prevented him from carrying out the plan. 14. Interrogation reports, telephone records, and physical evidence connect Bilal to facilitators who moved him through the Haqqaniya Madrasa. 15. Farzana Sheikh describes the Haqqaniya Madrasa as a secretive Pakistani seminary associated with Taliban leaders and Mullah Umar. 16. A conspirator’s confession says Bilal stayed in dormitory room 83 before receiving a suicide jacket, pistol, live bullets, and black sunglasses. 17. The episode uses police documents, interviews, archival audio, and testimony from Nahid Khan to build an investigative narrative. 18. Interviews with Benazir’s son and Asif Zidari present contrasting views on whether a trained 15-year-old bomber should be treated as a child or an adult. 19. Listeners interested in Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan, and militant networks. 20. Listeners avoiding graphic remains, suicide bombings, and political investigations.

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