Mystery of missing US journalist

Karachi is home to many militant groups

Police in Pakistan say they have no clues as to the whereabouts of an American journalist missing since Wednesday.

Daniel Pearl was working on a story for the Wall Street Journal in the city of Karachi.

"The initial inquiry suggests he was attempting to interview some people who could provide him with a lead to a terrorist organisation," Reuters news agency reports a Karachi police official as saying.

The official said Mr Pearl was interested in Islamic militant groups, including some linked to the al-Qaeda network of Osama Bin Laden.

No ransom

The search is covering Karachi and the neighbouring province of Baluchistan.

Mr Pearl's wife said he had been on assignment in Karachi for three weeks.

He had gone to a hotel in Karachi to meet a religious leader and has not been seen since.

Police have not ruled out the possibility of a kidnapping, although no ransom demand has been received.

The Vice-President of Dow Jones & Co, publishers of the Wall Street Journal, said Mr Pearl had not contacted his colleagues on Wednesday.

"We are extremely hopeful that we will be able to locate Danny soon," Steven Goldstein said.