NEW YORK?A Wall Street Journal reporter has apparently been taken hostage in Pakistan by a group seeking repatriation of detained Pakistani fighters in Cuba and the release of Afghanistan’s former ambassador.

An email from the National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty accused reporter Daniel Pearl of being an undercover CIA officer, an accusation the newspaper and CIA dismiss.

Pearl, 38, has been missing since Wednesday, when he went to visit a source near Karachi, Pakistan, for a story about terrorism.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Monday that U.S. officials have been in contact with Pakistani authorities to negotiate Pearl’s release.

In Pakistan, police sources told the Associated Press they believe Pearl was kidnapped by Harkat ul-Mujahedeen, which has close ties to al Qaeda and is on the U.S. government’s terrorist organizations list.