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Body Samples Sent for DNA Analysis
Friday, May 17, 2002
(4:07 PM ET)
The Associated Press

Four Islamic radicals have been on trial since April 22 on charges of murder and kidnapping in the case. They have pleaded innocent.

KARACHI, Pakistan -- AP
Hair and blood samples from a dismembered body were sent for DNA testing Friday as authorities sought to confirm whether they had found the remains of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

The body was removed from a shallow grave on property Pakistan state television said was owned by Al-Rashid Trust, a group the United States has identified as a terrorist organization.

The body was found near a blood-spattered shed where authorities believe Pearl was held before his videotaped murder. In the shack, police found a car seat that resembled one in pictures sent to news agencies by Pearl's kidnappers, chief investigator Mansour Mughal told The Associated Press.

Samples of blood on the walls of the shed were taken for DNA testing, Mughal said. A jacket resembling the track suit Pearl was photographed wearing was found buried in the grave with the body, he said.

The body was cut into 10 pieces, including a severed head, Mughal said.

It could be a week before the results of DNA tests are known, Police Chief Kamal Shah told reporters in Karachi.
(More: USATODAY.com News Source)
2002 © The Associated Press.

Dan