After eight years in exile in Dubai and London, Bhutto returned to Karachi on October 18, 2007, to prepare for the national elections. Now she is dead.

The events leading up to her death are now the source of much speculation. But it's now the events leading up to this interview with Sir David Frost on the Al Jazeera network on November 2nd, which are causing most tongues to wag. In the video, Benazir Bhutto clearly states that "Omar Sheikh" is the man who killed Osama Bin Laden. (watch the Video)

So what is the background to this recent interview and who is "Omar Sheikh"?

Bhutto later claimed that she had warned the Pakistani government that suicide bomb squads would target her upon her return to Pakistan and that the government had failed to act. She was careful not to blame Pervez Musharraf for the attacks, accusing instead "certain individuals [within the government] who abuse their positions, who abuse their powers" to advance the cause of Islamic militants.

Shortly after the attempt on her life, Bhutto wrote a letter to Musharraf naming four persons whom she suspected of carrying out the attack. Those named included Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, a rival PML-Q politician and chief minister of Pakistan's Punjab province, Hamid Gul, former director of the Inter-Services Intelligence, and Ijaz Shah, the director general of the Intelligence Bureau, another of Pakistan's intelligence agencies. All those named are close associates of General Musharraf.

Bhutto has a long history of accusing parts of the government, particularly Pakistan's premier military intelligence agencies, of working against her and her party because they oppose her liberal, secular agenda. Bhutto claimed that the ISI has for decades backed militant Islamic groups in Kashmir and in Afghanistan.

In the Frost interview, Bhutto is clear about who Osama Bin Laden is. Before she mentions his name in relation to "Omar Sheikh" she mentions Osama Bin Laden and his son Hamza. Professional politician that she is - a wordsmith by trade - she is not making an elementary error here.

So, who is Omar Sheikh?

The Omar Sheikh Bhutto is talking about is none other than Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh - a British-born militant of Pakistani descent with alleged links to various Islamist terrorist organizations, including Jaish-e-Mohammed, Al-Qaeda, and >Harkat-ul-Mujahideen.

Sheikh was arrested and served time in prison for the 1994 abduction of several British nationals in India. He was released from captivity in 1999 and provided safe passage into Pakistan, apparently with the support of Pakistan and the Taliban (the hijackers were Pakistanis) in an Indian Airlines plane hijacking. He is most well-known for his alleged role in the 2002 kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

On October 6, 2001, a senior-level U.S. government official told CNN that U.S. investigators had discovered Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh (Sheik Syed), using the alias " Mustafa Muhammad Ahmad" had sent about $100,000 from the United Arab Emirates to 911 chief hijacker Mohammed Atta. Investigators said Atta then distributed the funds to conspirators in Florida in the weeks before the deadliest acts of terrorism on U.S. soil that destroyed the World Trade Center, heavily damaged the Pentagon and left thousands dead. In addition, sources have said Atta sent thousands of dollars -- believed to be excess funds from the operation -- back to Saeed in the United Arab Emirates in the days before September 11. CNN later confirmed this.

Sheikh Omar Saeed was arrested by Pakistani police on February 12, 2002, in Lahore, in conjunction with the Pearl kidnapping and was sentenced to death on July 15, 2002 for killing Pearl. His judicial appeal has not yet been heard. The delay has been alleged to be due to his reported links with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence. His complicity in the Pearl execution and the reasons behind it are in dispute. At his initial court appearance, he stated, "I don't want to defend this case. I did this...right or wrong, I had my reasons. I think that our country (Pakistan) shouldn't be catering to America's needs".

Pakistani President, Pervez Musharraf, in his book In the Line of Fire stated that Sheikh was originally recruited by British intelligence agency, MI6, while studying at the London School of Economics. He alleges Omar Sheikh was sent to the Balkans by MI6 to engage in jihadi operations. Musharraf later went on to state "At some point, he probably became a rogue or double agent".

Whatever the truth of Benazir Bhutto's claims (and many in the past have claimed the death of the Al Qaeda's leader) Ms. Bhutto's assiduousness in promulgating the benefits of democracy in Pakistan and potentially across the Muslim world is contacting us as if from beyond the grave. These claims should be looked into by intelligence services and if Bin Laden is dead, we should all be told, so we can hold a massive party to celebrate.

Jane Blunt is a British lawyer specializing in counter terrorism.

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