November 17, 2004

Daniel Pearl Murder Suspect Killed In Pakistan

Thank you Lord. Thank you. BBC:

Police in Pakistan have shot dead a suspected Islamic militant wanted in connection with the 2002 kidnapping and murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl.
Asim Ghafoor died in a shootout with security forces in the southern city of Karachi, police said.

Officials said he was closely linked to Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, on death row for masterminding Pearl's killing. Police say Ghafoor was a member of at least one banned group, and wanted in connection with other attacks. These include the May 2002 suicide bombing outside Karachi's Sheraton hotel in which 14 people died, 11 of them French engineers.

Police say they were acting on a tip-off when they raided what they describe as Ghafoor's hideout in western Karachi. He opened fire as he fled but was wounded when police returned fire, and he later died in hospital, said Javed Shah Bokhari, deputy inspector general of Karachi police...

Mr Bokhari said Ghafoor was a close aide to Pakistan's most wanted militant, Amjad Hussain Farooqi, who security forces killed in September.

"Asim Ghafoor was second-in-command to Amjad Farooqi and had a role in all the terrorist activities orchestrated by Amjad Farooqi," he told the Associated Press.

By Rusty Shackleford, Ph.D. at 05:01 PM | |