KARACHI, 18 November 2004 — A suspected militant wanted in connection with the 2002 abduction and killing of US journalist Daniel Pearl was shot dead by Pakistani police yesterday. Police said Asim Ghafoor, a member of the outlawed Harkat-ul Mujahedeen group, which is also fighting Indian rule in the disputed region of Kashmir, was killed in a clash in the western outskirts of Karachi after a tip-off, they said.
“He was an associate of Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh,” said Javed Ali Shah Bukhari, a deputy inspector-general of police. Sheikh, a British-born militant, has been convicted and sentenced to death for masterminding Pearl’s killing, while three of his accomplices have been jailed for life.
Ghafoor, who carried a reward of 500,000 rupees ($8,333), was also wanted in connection with a May 2002 suicide bombing outside Karachi’s Sheraton Hotel that killed 11 French technicians working on a submarine project, Bukhari said.
