American reporter decapitated by kidnappers
Murdered American reporter Daniel Pearl was decapitated by his kidnappers according to a Pakistani investigator.
His final words before he was killed were recorded on video. He said "I am a Jew, my mother is a Jew," the detective said.
A Pakistani minister says the video confirming Pearl's death "contained scenes showing Mr Pearl in captivity and scenes of his murder by the kidnappers."
"The tape appears to be correct," said the minister, Mukhtar Ahmad Sheikh. No details were immediately available on exactly where or when the reporter killed. Karachi police said no body had been recovered so far.
The US State Department confirmed Pearl's death, saying the US Embassy in Pakistan received evidence of the murder. Sources close to the investigation who have seen the tape says it shows Pearl dead, his throat cut.
The announcements crushed the hopes of Pearl's colleagues and his pregnant wife, who had pleaded for the reporter's safe return . The Journal said its staff was "heartbroken," and Pearl's parents and two sisters said they were "shocked and saddened" by the news.
"Up until a few hours ago, we were confident that Danny would return safely, for we believe that no human being could be capable of harming such a gentle soul," they said in a statement from their home in Los Angeles.
Mr Pearl's wife, Mariane, was told of his death in Karachi, where she had been staying while awaiting word on her husband's fate, said Steve Goldstein, a vice president of Dow Jones & Co, the owner of the Journal.
In the weeks since her husband's capture, Mariane Pearl, a freelance journalist, had pleaded for his freedom and offered herself in his place. She is now seven months pregnant with the couple's first child.
Daniel Pearl was abducted after arranging to interview the leader of a radical Muslim faction with purported ties to the al-Qaida terrorist network. Pakistani officials said there were indications that Pearl had been lured into a trap by false information.
