Pakistani police says it is still pursuing some militants who killed Pearl ( )

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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Oct 22, 2003 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- Sitting on Pakistan's death row is a British-born Islamic militant, who used his polished charm and intelligence to lure Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl into a deadly trap in the back lanes of Karachi.

Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, 28, and three Pakistani accomplices, who were sentenced to 25 years in prison, were believed involved in the kidnapping phase of the case. But police are still looking for the men who held Pearl captive for days or weeks, and who finally killed him by slitting his throat in front of a video camera.

U.S. authorities disclosed this week they believe the killer was Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, a key lieutenant of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden and an alleged planner of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks who was captured in Pakistan 13 months after Pearl was murdered.

But Pakistani authorities are unconvinced.

Kamal Shah, police chief in Pakistan's Sindh province who led the initial investigation in the Pearl case, said he had no knowledge that would confirm Mohammed's involvement in the kidnapping and murder. Other intelligence officials also say they have no evidence to support the allegation, although they acknowledge it could be true.

"Our investigations never indicated or proved his role in the killing," Shah told The Associated Press.

In his initial questioning, Mohammed never acknowledged any role in the Pearl case, Pakistani intelligence officials said. He was later handed over to U.S. authorities and removed from Pakistan.

Police here say they have received no further information from his subsequent interrogation.

Pakistani authorities say they are still searching for seven men, all Pakistanis, who they believe comprised the cell that guarded Pearl after he was kidnapped by Sheikh's gang.

Pearl, 38, disappeared Jan. 23, 2002, in Karachi, the capital of Sindh province, while working on a story on Islamic militants. Four days later, a Pakistan newspaper received pictures of Pearl with a gun to his head.

A group calling itself the National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty claimed responsibility for the kidnapping and demanded the release from U.S. custody of suspected Taliban and al-Qaida fighters.

It was only four weeks later that videotapes arrived at the U.S. Embassy showing Pearl being killed. Of the killer, only the hand drawing the knife across Pearl's neck could be seen.

Sheikh, who was sentenced in July 2002, and the other three are appealing their convictions, claiming the case against them was trumped up.

Two other police officials in Karachi, who spoke on condition of anonymity Wednesday, said one of the seven suspects is Saud Memon, a businessman whose shed and adjoining flower nursery was used to keep Pearl.

All seven allegedly had close ties with an outlawed Islamic extremist group, Harakat ul-Mujahedeen Al-Almi, an offshoot of Harakat ul-Mujahedeen group which is fighting Indian rule in Kashmir.

Shah, the police chief, said the case is definitely still open.

"We never abandoned efforts to arrest these people," he said. "Sooner or later the real killers of Daniel Pearl will be behind bars."

By MUNIR AHMAD Associated Press Writer= ap_topic:General;

Copyright 2003 Associated Press, All rights reserved