Zubair Mahmood will work with a team of British detectives investigating the December 27 assassination of Bhutto which plunged Pakistan into turmoil and forced the postponement of key elections, they said.

"He has joined the investigation and will coordinate with the Scotland Yard team," a senior government official said.

An interior ministry official said Mahmood's experience in handling high-profile cases would be very helpful in the probe that is looking into the exact circumstances in which the former prime minister died.

Pearl, an American journalist, was kidnapped in the southern port city of Karachi in January 2002 and beheaded by Al Qaeda number three Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Zubair was the lead investigator and unearthed the gang of Islamic militants who planned and carried out the gruesome killing of Pearl.

He was also sent to the West Indies last year to assist Jamaican police investigating the death of Pakistan cricket team coach Bob Woolmer.