Pearl's body leaves Pakistan for United States

KARACHI, Pakistan -- The body of Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal journalist kidnapped and slain by Islamic militants, left Pakistan early Thursday en route to the United States, Pakistani officials said.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Pearl's body was aboard a Cathay Pacific flight that left Karachi at 1:30 a.m. bound for Los Angeles by way of Bangkok, Thailand, and Hong Kong.

On Wednesday, the body, in an oak casket covered with red flowers, was transferred by police convoy from a mortuary at the Edhi Foundation, a Pakistani relief organization, according to foundation official Rezwan Edhi.

At the airport, the casket was moved to a restricted area accompanied by several American and Pakistani officials. U.S. diplomats in Islamabad declined to give any details or say when Pearl's body would leave Karachi, citing the family's desire for privacy.

Pearl, 38, was kidnapped Jan. 23 in Karachi while working on a story about links between Pakistani Islamic extremists and Richard C. Reid, who was arrested in December on a flight from Paris to Miami with explosives in his shoes.

A few days later, e-mails were received by Western and Pakistani news organizations from the heretofore unknown National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty announcing Pearl's kidnapping.

In February, a videotape given to American diplomats in Karachi confirmed Pearl was dead. A body found in May in a shallow grave in Karachi was later identified through DNA tests as Pearl's.

Last month, four men were convicted of the kidnap-slaying.