ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Tuesday said that probe by the United Nations could unearth the "hidden hands" behind former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's assassination.

PPP central spokesperson Sherry Rehman told a news conference in Bhutto's home town of Naudero in southern Pakistan that Bhutto herself had said that some elements with links to extremist groups were behind efforts to kill her.

"She wrote a letter to President Pervez Musharraf on Oct. 16, two days before Bhutto's return to Pakistan, in which she had indicated these groups and given some names," Rehman said.

She said that a friendly foreign country had also provided the information on these groups and individuals. She added that whoever killed Bhutto was the criminal.

"But we want the hidden hands behind the assassination to be exposed," she said.

Rehman said the conspiracy aimed at destabilizing Pakistan and the enemies wanted to break up the party and destabilize the country by killing Bhutto but the party leaders had foiled their designs.

She said the PPP's request for a probe had reached the UN but this "is a long process." A UN-led inquiry is "necessary not only for the PPP and Bhutto's family but for the whole of Pakistan," she said.

Bhutto's assassination was a "grave violation of a basic fundamental right which can be taken up by the UN," she said. The PPP would continue with this demand for a UN probe "as long as it takes," said the spokesperson.