AUTHORITIES, WHO HAD previously cast doubt on reports of Mohammed’s role, now have new information that leads them to believe he killed Pearl, said one U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The official declined to detail the evidence.
The U.S. acknowledgment of Mohammed’s suspected role was first reported in Tuesday’s editions of the Journal.
Pearl, the Journal’s South Asia bureau chief, was abducted on Jan. 23, 2002, while working on a story on Islamic militants in Karachi.
Four days later, the Journal and other media outlets 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.
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