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Pakistani admits role in Pearl murder case - police

Posted on: Saturday, 6 August 2005, 08:31 CDT

By Zeeshan Haider

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - An Islamist militant suspected of bringing murdered U.S. reporter Daniel Pearl to his kidnappers has confessed he was working for two key al Qaeda-linked operatives, police said on Saturday.

Mohammad Hashim Qadir was arrested last month in Gujranwala in the central province of Punjab. Security sources believe he set up a meeting between Pearl and militants who later kidnapped and killed him.

"He has confessed to his role in the Pearl case and to some robberies," Gujranwala police chief Zafar Abbas told Reuters.

No-one was available to give comment from Qadir himself.

Abbas did not say what part Qadir, also known as Arif, played in the Wall Street Journal reporter's abduction and murder, but said he had admitted taking instructions from two militants who played key roles in the plot.

"He confessed he was receiving orders from Omar Sheikh and Amjad Farooqi."

British-born Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, commonly known as Omar Sheikh, was sentenced to death in 2002 for masterminding the murder, but is still in jail awaiting an appeal hearing.

Amjad Hussain Farooqi was named as a conspirator in the Pearl case, and was considered a key link between local militants and al Qaeda planner Abu Faraj Farj al Liby, who was captured in Pakistan in May.

Farooqi, who was also implicated in assassination plots against President Pervez Musharraf, was killed by security forces in the southern city of Nawabshah in September last year.

Investigators in Karachi, where Pearl was murdered, say Qadir acted as a go-between for Sheikh and Farooqi.

Intelligence officials say he was one of seven Islamist militants still being sought in connection with Pearl's murder.

Pearl, 38, was kidnapped in January 2002 while researching a story on Islamist militants. The killers videotaped Pearl's execution and his headless corpse was found later.

In a book about her husband, "A Mighty Heart," Pearl's widow Mariane described Qadir as a spokesman for Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (Movement for Holy Warriors), a militant group fighting Indian rule in Kashmir.

Intelligence officials said Qadir also has links to Jaish-e-Mohammad (Army of Mohammad), another militant group linked to al Qaeda and blamed for a string of attacks in Pakistan, including attempts to kill Musharraf.

Source: REUTERS

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