WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- Pakistani police said Sunday three of the suspects hunted in connection with the kidnapping and murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl are Arab nationals thought to be members of Osama bin Laden's al Qaida terror network.
"They are among a dozen or so al Qaida terrorists who slipped into Pakistan after the collapse of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan," a senior security official told United Press International in Karachi, where Pearl was kidnapped Jan. 23.
The official, who requested anonymity, said security along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan slackened after the Dec. 13 suicide attack on the Indian parliament building in New Delhi.
India blamed Pakistan-backed Kashmiri separatists for the attack, and as tensions mounted between the two nations, it moved thousands of additional troops to its border with Pakistan. The official claimed this had forced Pakistan to withdraw troops from the Afghan frontier, so they could be deployed on the Indian border.
But Pakistani officials acknowledge that even before the re-deployment of troops on the Indian border, hundreds of Taliban and al Qaida fighters had entered the semi-independent Pakistani tribal belt.
"We believe that the three we are looking for, are among those who have come to Pakistan after Nov. 13," when the Taliban regime collapsed in Kabul, the official said.
Although refusing to disclose their names, he said at least one of them moved about "disguised as a journalist."
"But they never contacted Pearl before his abduction. This was done by Shaikh Omar and his accomplices," the official said.
The 28-year-old Omar, also known as Ahmed Omar Saeed Shaikh, is a British-born Muslim who is believed to have masterminded Pearl's abduction.
A dropout of the London School of Economics, he spent several years in Indian jails for kidnapping Western tourists in New Delhi in 1995. He was freed along with three other radicals in Indian jails in December 1999, after men claiming to be Kashmiri militants hijacked an Indian airliner. They demanded the release of four leaders of the Jaish-i-Mohammed, a Pakistani extremist Islamic party, in return for the hostages.
On Feb. 14, Omar told a court in Karachi, Pakistan, that Pearl had already died but Pakistani and U.S. officials appeared unconvinced, expressing hope that the 38-year-old reporter was still alive.
Omar is to reappear before the anti-terrorist court in Karachi on Monday.
Previously, UPI learned that three separate and self-contained cells had worked on the kidnapping -- one trapping and abducting Pearl, one claiming the responsibility and delivering demands and the third charged with actually holding him.
"Most of the people used for trapping Pearl and for sending e-mail messages to authorities and newspapers were Pakistani sympathizers of the Taliban and al Qaida networks," the Karachi-based official said Sunday.
"But we are not so sure about those who were keeping him. We believe that these Arabs were somehow involved in keeping the journalist in custody and in his murder."
Pakistani officials have warned U.S. and other Western diplomatic missions and business concerns in the country to increase security around their premises. The warning follows reports that they are on terrorist hit lists.
They also have deployed paramilitary troops around these missions and business concerns.
According to a series of media reports in Pakistan, Omar told his investigators that Pearl's murder was only a warning and there's more to come.
Reacting to such threats, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf vowed Saturday to "destroy all terrorist networks" working in Pakistan. He ordered the security agencies to "catch each and every terrorist involved in this gruesome murder."
Although they have arrested more than 16 suspects, investigators still are looking for some others who, they believed, also played a key role in the abduction and murder of the U.S. reporter.
They include Amjad Hussain Faruqi, a suspected terrorist who uses five different names, and Hashim Qadeer. Both men -- like Omar himself -- are believed to have close ties with the Taliban and the al Qaida network.
This weekend, Pakistani officials said those involved in the Pearl investigation have received threatening telephone calls, telling them to stop the search for the culprits or face the consequences.
They said the suspects were using Pearl's cell phone to make these calls.
In Washington, experts say they believe Pearl was killed 10 days before his death was confirmed Feb. 21. They came to the conclusion after examining the victim's unshaven face on the video, which showed a growth of beard.
In Islamabad, a spokesman for the federal government said they have decided not to release the tape for viewing, as it is "too grisly" to be seen by the general public.
