Horror of kidnap killing on video

A gruesome video showing the last moments of kidnapped journalist Daniel Pearl was being examined for clues by American investigators today.

The shocking tape, delivered to the US consulate in Karachi, shows Pearl talking to his captors, unaware of his fate. Moments later, an unseen attacker grabs him and slits his throat with a knife.

Pearl's French-born wife, Mariane, is expecting their first child in July at the family's home in Encino, California. In a statement, his parents, Judea and Ruth, called Pearl "a beloved son, a brother, an uncle, a husband and a father to a child who will never know him".

The murder of the 38-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter by Muslim fundamentalists was condemned by President Bush, who said that "those who would engage in barbaric, criminal acts only hurt their cause and only deepen the resolve of the US to rid the world of these agents of terror. All Americans are sad and angry to learn of the murder. May God bless Daniel Pearl."

Pearl was investigating links between alleged "shoe-bomber" Richard Reid, the British man accused of attempting to blow up an American airlines jet, and Islamic terrorist groups when he vanished almost exactly a month ago.

He was last confirmed alive at the end of January, when photographs, showing him in captivity and with a gun at his head, were sent with emails setting out the conditions for his release.

The tape of his execution was first delivered to police by a man posing as a Pakistani journalist and then handed over to American law enforcement agents working on the case. It offers no clue to the time or date of his death and the identities of those responsible are carefully concealed from the camera.

US officials will now press the Pakistani government for the swift extradition of Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the London-born Islamic militant suspected of masterminding Pearl's abduction and who may now face murder charges in America.

Sheikh, 27, surrendered to the Pakistani authorities two weeks ago, first telling detectives that the American was still alive, Later, he changed his story during a court appearance, saying the reporter had been killed.

Peter Kann, publisher of the Wall Street Journal, and Paul Steiger, the paper's managing editor, called Pearl's murder "an act of barbarism," adding "We are heartbroken at his death."

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