Pakistan Vows to Hunt Down Pearl's Killers

Pakistan's military regime last night promised an all-out manhunt to trace the Islamic militants who kidnapped the American journalist Daniel Pearl and slit his throat on camera. President Pervez Musharraf called the killing "a barbaric murder" which "defamed the whole religion of Islam", and swore to use an "iron hand" against terrorism.

In a gruesome few minutes of video footage the kidnappers are shown talking to Pearl before one of his captors suddenly lunges forward and cuts his throat with a knife. There was growing evidence last night that the journalist was targeted because he was Jewish.

Four suspects have already been charged in the case, in cluding one British-born Pakistani militant, who has admitted his involvement.

General Musharraf ordered the provincial authorities in Karachi to "to apprehend each and every member of the gang of terrorists linked to this gruesome murder", a government statement said.

Police are no nearer to finding the body of Pearl, 38, a reporter on the Wall Street Journal. Although he went missing in Karachi on January 23 it is not clear from the videotape when he was killed.

His murder was confirmed early yesterday after the tape was handed to US officials in Karachi. Pakistani sources said the tape was first handed to a Pakistani journalist. It was another 24 hours before it was given to US officials. The reason for the delay was not clear.

In the recording Pearl is heard telling his captors that he was Jewish, just moments before he was killed.

"I have been told that the last words uttered by Pearl in the videotape, immediately before his throat was slit, were 'Yes I am a Jew and my father is a Jew'," one Pakistani official said. "Maybe he was forced by his kidnappers to say these words."

One of the suspects arrested in the case has also said the kidnappers were hunting a Jewish victim.

American officials have had discussions with the Pakistani authorities in an effort to have some or all of the suspects extradited to the United States, according to officials quoted by the New York Times. They said Pakistan, which does not have a formal extradition treaty with Washington, had so far been reluctant to agree. Any suspects tried in the US could face the death penalty.

The Foreign Office in London said last night it thought the British-born suspect, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, probably held dual British and Pakistani nationality, and was waiting for clarification from Pakistani authorities.

But a spokeswoman said the British government would not intervene in extradition negotiations, even if he turned out to be a UK citizen, despite the fact that Britain does not extradite suspects to face the death penalty abroad.

All the suspects, who include a member of the police special branch, are thought to have links with Jaish-e Mohammad, a militant group fighting a guerrilla war in Kashmir.