Rohani disappeared on the evening of June 7. His body was found with multiple bullet wounds the next day in a cemetery near Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand province, according to local and international news reports. Rohani was the Helmand reporter for BBC's Pashto service and contributed to the Pajhwok Afghan News agency, the country's largest independent news service.
A native of Helmand, Rohani had distinguished himself as a well-connected and eloquent reporter, according to colleagues. Rohani, 25, the oldest son in a family of seven children, was married with two children.
Pajhwok Director Danish Karokhel, who reviewed the reporter's phone records and laptop, said he believed Rohani was killed for his reporting on drug trafficking and its possible ties to government officials.
Helmand province, which lies along the restive border with Pakistan, is home to Taliban and al-Qaeda militants, as well as a flourishing opium trade. Some Afghan news reports quoted an unidentified government spokesman as saying that Rohani was killed by Taliban militants. A Taliban spokesman told The Associated Press that his group was not behind the reporter's death.