September 11, 2001 attacks mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was warned by a senior al Qaeda military commander not to kill Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002 and that he should be "freed" but the American was killed anyway, according to leaked WikiLeaks documents.
Pearl, 38, was beheaded by his Pakistani captors in February 2002 after being abducted.
"A senior al Qaeda military commander strongly warned Khalid Shaikh Mohammed not to kill Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, cautioning him it would not be wise to murder Pearl..." a report said.
Quoting US military documents posted by WikiLeaks, the report said Mohammed told his US interrogators at Guantanamo Bay that he cut off Pearl's head anyway.
Former top al Qaeda military commander Sayfal-Adl was "outspoken in cautioning Mohammed against killing the reporter," the report said.
Mohammed, however, turned for guidance to another al Qaeda leader, identified as Sharif al-Masri, the group's chief financial officer, and the two of them "disagreed with Adl on this point."
Next, "Pearl was taken to the house of al Qaeda's finance chief in Pakistan, Saud Memon, and murdered" there.
{{/usCountry}}Next, "Pearl was taken to the house of al Qaeda's finance chief in Pakistan, Saud Memon, and murdered" there.
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