Bahadarzai, 25, manager of Melma Radio station in Orgun
District, went missing on the evening of February 21, his colleague Yagub
Manzoor told Pajhwok
Afghan News. The journalist was found near his home in eastern
Afghanistan’s Paktika province later that night or early the next morning, news
reports citing police said.
Several news accounts stated that the body was found decapitated, while Pajhwok
reported that the journalist had been stabbed and shot dead.
Police told reporters they were conducting an investigation
into whether the journalist’s murder was linked to a phone call he received the
day he disappeared from unidentified men requesting a meeting, according to
Agence France-Presse. Manzoor told local journalists that Bahadarzai had no
known personal conflicts and had received no threats from militants.
Taliban militants have previously targeted journalists in
Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan. But Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid
denied responsibility for the murder.