(Adds quotes, details from interview)

By Tabassum Zakaria

WASHINGTON, Jan 3 (Reuters) - President George W. Bush called Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on Thursday an ally of the United States in fighting terrorism and said he should work with the winner of elections delayed to next month after the killing of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.

Bhutto's assassination last week as she left an election rally in Rawalpindi threw Pakistan into turmoil and left questions about who was behind the gun and suicide bomb attack. The general election, which Washington hopes will mark a democratic transition in the nuclear-armed country, was postponed to Feb. 18 from Jan. 8.

"I think that whoever wins the election is somebody with whom President Musharraf should work, and of course we will be a strong ally of Pakistan," Bush said in a Reuters interview at the White House.

"I've always been a supporter of President Musharraf," he said. "I believe he is strong in the war on terror. He understands clearly the risks of dealing with extremists and terrorists. After all, they've tried to kill him."

Musharraf had kept his pledge to step down from his military post and to set a date for elections, Bush noted. "He's an ally."

The United States considers Pakistan important in fighting al Qaeda and Taliban militants along the border with Afghanistan.

"They (militants) want to, in this case, derail democracy, create confusion and chaos, kill a brave woman in order to advance their agenda," he said.

"And it's in the interest of the world to help Pakistan recover from this terrible incident and have a strong democracy, that's exactly what the position of the U.S. government is," Bush said.

The Bush administration had worked hard to broker an arrangement that allowed Bhutto to return from exile and to convince Musharraf to hold elections and share power with her. But it has been very careful about criticizing Musharraf even when he imposed emergency rule in November and detained opposition politicians and lawyers. Musharraf lifted the state of emergency about six weeks later.

Bush did not comment on whether he considered Bhutto's 19-year-old son and husband, now representing her party, or former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, allies, saying it was important for the political parties to work for stability.

"I'm more focused on the political parties engaging in a political process, and after the process is over, coming together to provide stability and unity for Pakistan," Bush said.

Bush said he saw as a positive development Pakistan's request for British authorities to help in the investigation of Bhutto's death.

"If they wanted us in we would be glad to help, but Scotland Yard is plenty capable. What matters is getting to the bottom of it, find out exactly what happened," Bush said.

Musharraf has said an al Qaeda-linked militant was behind the attack on Bhutto and rejected any suggestion that Pakistani security agencies were involved.

Bush said the attack had "all the hallmarks" of an al Qaeda attack, but withheld judgment until the facts were determined. "And so I can't make an accusation in this case as to who did it ... I'm sure we'll find out."

(Editing by Patricia Wilson and Stuart Grudgings)

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