A new U.N. report that blames Pakistan's security establishment for failing to stop the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto paves the way for a "proper police investigation" into her killing, an aide to her widower — now the country's president — said April 16.

Bhutto was killed in a Dec. 27, 2007, gun and suicide-bomb attack as she was leaving a rally in Rawalpindi, where she was campaigning to return her Pakistan People's Party to power in parliamentary elections.

The three-member U.N. panel said her death could have been prevented if the government under President Pervez Musharraf, the Punjab province government and the Rawalpindi District Police had taken adequate measures "to respond to the extraordinary, fresh and urgent security risks that they knew she faced."

It also found that the investigation into her death was severely hampered by intelligence agencies and other government officials, "which impeded an unfettered search for the truth."

The report was hailed by Pakistani officials, including aides to President Asif Ali Zardari, Bhutto's widower. Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said the report backed up the People's Party's belief that Musharraf or his allies were responsible for Bhutto's death.

Musharraf's government blamed Baitullah Mehsud, a Pakistani militant commander with reported links to al-Qaida. Officials at the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency also said Mehsud was the chief suspect.

AP