New claims about killing of US reporter Pearl

Three Pakistani militants who led police to the body of Daniel Pearl claim he was murdered by an Arab two days after he tried to escape from kidnappers.

The alleged new details of the Wall Street Journal reporter's kidnap and killing do not exonerate British-born militant Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who was convicted with three others on July 15.

Saeed was sentenced to death by hanging and the others received life sentences.

However, their claims, which have been rumoured for weeks in Pakistan, could influence the appeal filed by Saeed and the others with the High Court in Sindh province.

Some of the new purported details conflict with evidence presented at the first trial.

Pearl, 38, was kidnapped on January 23 in Karachi while researching links between Pakistani Islamic extremists and Richard Reid, who was arrested in December on a flight from Paris to Miami with explosives in his shoe.

Two police investigators, said three militants - Naeem Bukhari, Fazal Karim and Zubair Chishti - have admitted playing a role in Pearl's kidnapping.

However, they have not been charged, and the Pakistani authorities have not even acknowledged officially that they are being held.