Yemeni 'linked to Pearl killing' suspect

A Yemeni militant suspected of involvement in the murder of the Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was among the men seized with the self-confessed 11 September plotter Ramzi bin al-Shibh, officials said yesterday.

A senior Pakistani police official told reporters that the man was identified by Fazal Karim, one of three Pakistanis held in connection with Mr Pearl's death but not yet charged. After his arrestlast week, Mr Karim was taken to a house where 10 al-Qa'ida suspects were held. There, he identified the man as one of three Arabs who killed Mr Pearl. The official refused to name the accused, but said he was not among the five, including Mr bin al-Shibh, transferred to US custody and flown out of Pakistan.

Mr Pearl, 38, was kidnapped in Karachi last January while investigating links between Pakistani extremists and the alleged British "shoe bomber" Richard Reid. His decapitated body was foundlater. Four men, including British-born Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, were convicted of the murder in July. Mr Saeed was sentenced to death and the others received life sentences. All four have appealed.

* The pan-Arab satellite television station al-Jazeera says one of its employees is being detained with al-Qa'ida suspects at the Guantanamo Bay US naval base in Cuba. Sami al-Haj, a Sudanese assistant cameraman, was arrested in Afghanistan in December.