Bomb targeted at BBC journalist

By Haroon Rashid
BBC News, Peshawar

Unidentified assailants have planted explosives outside the house of a journalist in the South Waziristan tribal region.

Dilawar Khan Wazir, who works for the BBC Urdu Service and the English-language daily Dawn, said he was the apparent target.

The journalist and his family escaped unhurt - the explosion damaged part of their house wall in Wana town.

It is not clear who carried out the attack or the motive.

Earlier in December, a school run by his family was also targeted with a bomb.

Whereabouts unknown

The year 2005 has proved dangerous for local journalists.

Two Wana-based reporters were killed in February.

In December a journalist from neighbouring North Waziristan, Hayatullah Khan, was kidnapped. The government still has no idea as to his whereabouts.

The Pakistani military have been carrying out operations in the tribal region bordering Afghanistan to flush out al-Qaeda and Taliban militants.