Islamabad:
Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf was on Thursday formally arrested over the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, prosecutors said.
The Bhutto case is the second of three cases dating back to his 1999-2008 rule for which General Musharraf has been arrested. The latest arrest came a day after a Pakistani court refused to extend his bail.
General Musharraf will remain in his villa on the edge of Islamabad where he is already under a two-week house arrest over his decision to sack judges when he imposed emergency rule in November 2007.
"Today FIA (federal investigative agency) formally arrested General Musharraf in the Benazir Bhutto case," prosecution lawyer Chaudhry Azhar told AFP by telephone.
On Wednesday a court in Rawalpindi, the garrison city twinned to Islamabad where Mrs Bhutto was killed, rejected General Musharraf's bail application.
General Musharraf is accused of conspiracy to murder Bhutto, who died in a gun and suicide attack in December 2007.
His arrest and disqualification from contesting elections on May 11 have been a humiliating blow for the former ruler of nuclear-armed Pakistan, who returned home last month promising to "save" the country.
Nobody has been convicted or jailed for Mrs Bhutto's assassination on December 27, 2007, despite a long-running court case.
General Musharraf's government blamed Mrs Bhutto's killing on Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who denied any involvement and who was killed in a US drone attack in August 2009.
In 2010 a UN report said Mrs Bhutto's death could have been prevented and accused General Musharraf's government of failing to give her adequate protection.
Mrs Bhutto's son, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who is chairman of the outgoing Pakistan People's Party, has accused General Musharraf of her murder.