NEW YORK, Oct 21: US officials investigating the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl now believe he was personally slain by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, alleged organizer of the Sept 11, 2001, attacks.
The Journal said on Tuesday that White House officials had developed credible, corroborated information that Khalid Mohammed — believed to be one of Osama bin Laden’s aides — was “directly involved” in Daniel Pearl’s murder.
The reporter was kidnapped on Jan 23 last year in Karachi, where he had gone to do a feature on Muslim militancy.
A scratchy video of Mr Pearl’s throat being cut was delivered to the US consulate on Feb 21. It took until May 2002 to find his remains.
British-born militant Ahmad Saeed Omar Sheikh and three other militants were convicted in July of plotting the abduction and murder, but they were not present at the slaying and the actual killers have never been caught.
Khalid Mohammed was arrested in Rawalpindi in March this year. He has since been held at an undisclosed location and has been interrogated by CIA personnel.
Khalid, 38, a Kuwaiti of Pakistani descent, is suspected of being a major financier and organizer for the Al Qaeda network.
As well as masterminding the Sept 11 attacks, he is accused of plotting to blow up 12 US airliners in the mid-1990s, and helping to plot the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.
In January, Time magazine had quoted Pakistani police sources as saying at least one witness had seen Khalid Mohammed personally kill Daniel Pearl.
A suspect in the abduction, Fazal Karim, reportedly told police that Mr Khalid had drawn the knife across the reporter’s throat as he helped hold Pearl.
Investigators have said Daniel Pearl’s killers were Arabs.—AFP
