Geo TV and The News
February 18, 2009, in Swat, Pakistan
No one claimed responsibility for the killing of Khankhel, who died in the first violation of a truce called two days earlier between the government and local militant groups, according to local and international news reports. Khankhel had been covering a peace march led by Muslim cleric Sufi Muhammad, the father-in-law of local Taliban leader Maulana Fazlullah, the reports said. Muhammad was seeking to recruit his son-in-law to join a ceasefire agreement he had negotiated with local government officials.TV Managing Director Azhar Abbas told CPJ by telephone from Karachi that the journalist was found dead with gunshot wounds to the body and back of the head in a militant-controlled area near the town of Matta after he separated from the rest of his four-person reporting team.
A BBC report citing Khankhel's brother said the journalist had been abducted at gunpoint from the peace march, and that his hands and feet were bound when his body was discovered.
Khankhel was native to the region and had worked for Geo for five years, Abbas said. He also filed for Geo-affiliated daily The News.
Medium: Print, Television
Job: Broadcast Reporter, Print Reporter
Beats Covered: Politics, War
Gender: Male
Local or Foreign: Local
Freelance: No
Type of Death: Murder
Suspected Source of Fire: Political Group
Impunity: Yes
Taken Captive: Yes
Tortured: Yes
Threatened: No
