Islamabad - Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the United Nations has agreed to set up a commission to investigate last year's killing of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, news reports said Friday.

"The objectives for the commission are to identify the culprits, perpetrators, organizers and financiers of the assassination," he told reporters after meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in New York late Thursday.

Ban indicated that further consultations with Pakistan and other UN members were needed to determine the procedures and structure of the UN panel, the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan news agency quoted Qureshi as saying.

But a "broad understanding" had been reached on the nature of the proposed commission, its funding, its unhindered access to information in the case and safeguards for its independence, he added.

Bhutto, who was the leader of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), was killed December 27 in a suicide gun and bomb attack as she left an election rally in the garrison town of Rawalpindi outside Islamabad.

Pakistan's former government accused pro-Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud of ordering the attack, but he repeatedly denied the allegations.

The PPP also raised doubts over the previous government's claims and called for a UN probe, which was rejected by President Pervez Musharraf. Musharraf instead invited Britain's Scotland Yard to investigate.

The British team was given the limited mandate of determining the cause of Bhutto's death without identifying the elements behind her assassination. Its report was rejected by Bhutto's family as well as her party.

Islamabad sought the formation of a UN commission after the PPP defeated Musharraf's political allies in February 18 elections and formed a coalition government. (dpa)