Two men arrested for killing US journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002

Police arrested two suspected militants wanted for the 2002 kidnapping and murder of U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl, an official said Tuesday.

Photo: Two men arrested for killing US journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002

Attaur Rehman and Faisal Bhatti were arrested Monday in Kashmor, a town some 500 kilometers (300 miles) northeast of Karachi, said Saghir Mugheri, a local police officer.

Mugheri said both men were alleged members of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a militant organization linked to al-Qaida. He said they were suspected of involvement in the kidnapping and murder of the Wall Street Journal reporter, but did not elaborate.

Mugheri said police seized them in a car traveling toward Baluchistan province, and weapons and explosives were found in the vehicle.

Pearl was abducted from Karachi in January 2002 while researching a story on Islamic militancy. His remains were later found in a shallow grave in Karachi's eastern outskirts.

Pakistan has convicted several men for links to Pearl's killing.

British-born Islamic militant Ahmed Omar Saeed Shaikh was sentenced to death in July 2002 and his three accomplices were given life prison terms. Their appeals are pending before the Sindh High Court.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed - al-Qaida's No. 3 leader, who was caught in Pakistan and is now being held at the U.S. prison for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba - said he personally beheaded Pearl, according to a partial Pentagon transcript of his testimony at a military tribunal.