PAKISTANI police said on Tuesday they have made some progress in their hunt for missing and presumed kidnapped US reporter Daniel Pearl and hope to find some important clues soon, but they gave no details.

When he disappeared in the port city of Karachi last week, Pearl, was trying to contact Islamic militant groups linked to Saudi-born fugitive Osama bin Laden, accused by Washington of masterminding the Sept 11 attacks on the United States.

"We have made some initial success ... The investigation is still going on, we've made some headway," said a senior police official in Karachi. "We are very much hopeful that the findings will lead us to some major clues."

He said various government agencies were co-ordinating closely and the search for the missing Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reporter was being monitored by the country's "highest authority".

The foreign ministry said it had no idea who was behind the abduction but said those responsible would be caught.

"The government of Pakistan is utilising all means available to it so that the person abducted is found and the criminals brought to justice," spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan told a news briefing.

A senior police official in Rawalpindi, near Islamabad, told Reuters police raided a house on Monday belonging to a man alleged to have links to bin Laden's al Qaeda network.

The man,
who had met Pearl before he went missing, was not at home.

"We are chasing (this man) and trying to find him to know about his links," the official said. "We are working on different clues but so far there are no positive developments."

US Secretary of State Colin Powell discussed Pearl's disappearance with Pakistani military ruler General Pervez Musharraf, the US State Department said on Monday.

Pearl disappeared last Wednesday, apparently as he pursued a story about alleged shoe-bomber Richard Reid, who is being tried in the United States for trying to blow up an airliner last month.

Several Pakistani and US media organisations received an e-mail on Sunday saying Pearl had been kidnapped by a group calling itself 'The National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty'.

The message said Pearl (38) was being kept in "inhumane" conditions to protest against the treatment of Taliban and al Qaeda prisoners held at a US base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

It also accused Pearl, who is based in the Indian city of Bombay, of working for the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and included four photographs of the reporter, including one with his wrists chained and a pistol pointed at his head.

Paul Steiger, WSJ managing editor, told CNN's Larry King Live he felt horrible when he saw the photo.

"Danny is a wonderful young man. To see anybody in this situation, particularly someone you know, is just terrible and heart-wrenching," he said.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said on Monday Pearl had no connection with the US government and should be immediately and unconditionally released.

Pakistani officials have said they were checking possible links to militant Islamic groups, while officials have said they have never heard of the group claiming the kidnap.

His employer said it has received no word of Pearl.

"Danny is still being held. We have received no word from anyone," said Steven Goldstein, vice president of WSJ publisher Dow Jones & Co.

"We have had no contact with anyone holding Danny and we are obviously concerned... For humanitarian reasons, Danny should be released and returned safely to his family," he added, saying Pearl's wife Mariane, a French citizen, was six months pregnant. - Nampa-Reuters