US/PAKISTAN: The fate of the kidnapped US journalist, Daniel Pearl, was unclear early today, as his employer, the Wall Street Journal, said it had seen reports indicating he had been killed. Police said a ransom demand had been made for the release of the journalist by his Pakistani captors.
A shadowy group holding Mr Pearl for nine days had threatened to kill him yesterday evening. President Bush said the United States was doing everything it could to save Mr Pearl.
The claim that he had been killed was reported to have been contained in an e-mail, the origin of which could not be verified. Police in Karachi, where Mr Pearl disappeared when going to meet the leader of a militant Muslim group, said they had not received any email but they had a recording of a telephone demand for $2 million to release the reporter.
The call, made to the US consulate in Karachi, also demanded the release of the former Afghan ambassador to Pakistan, Mr Abdul Salam Zaeef, who is in US custody, a senior police official said.
"The caller gave 36 hours from the time of the call to deliver the money," the official said. "He also demanded the release of Zaeef. We are taking this call as seriously as the emails."
Mr Zaeef was handed over to US authorities after being arrested in Pakistan in early January. Previous emails from a group calling itself the National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty had threatened to kill Mr Pearl by 11.35 GMT yesterday.
In the emails, which contained photos of Mr Pearl in captivity, the group demands that the United States should free Pakistanis among those held at its naval base in Cuba and provide better treatment to others in detention there.
Mr Bush said the United States was working with the Pakistani government to investigate all leads. "For example, we're trying to follow the trail of the emails that have been sent with the sole purpose of saving this man, of finding him and rescuing him," he said.
Mr Pearl (38) disappeared after telling his wife he was going to interview Mr Mubarak Ali Shah Gilani, leader of the little known group, Tanzeem-ul-Fuqrahi. His abduction drew claims from Pakistan of Indian involvement.