UNITED NATIONS, June 6 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has received a letter from the Pakistani government asking the world body to investigate the assassination of the country's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, a UN spokesperson said Friday.

    The letter from Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood was formally handed over to the UN chief on Friday morning when he met with the South Asian country's UN ambassador, UN spokesperson Michele Montas said.

    "The secretary-general received the letter. Indeed, I can confirm that," Montas told reporters.

    "However, the secretary-general has not taken a decision on it," she said. "He has just received the letter and the letter is being studied."

    Bhutto, 54, was killed in a suicide attack last December during an electoral rally at Liaquat Bagh park in Rawalpindi, some 30 km south of Islamabad, the Pakistani capital.