Fears for BBC Pakistan reporter

Mr Khan's whereabouts are not known

Dilawar Khan Wazir, a BBC Urdu service reporter in Pakistan's tribal region of South Waziristan, has gone missing.

Mr Khan was last seen on Monday morning in Islamabad. He was heading for home in North-West Frontier Province (NWFP).

Fears were raised when his mobile phone was answered by someone saying he was seriously hurt in hospital. There was no sign of him when the BBC checked.

Pakistan's record on press safety is poor and Mr Khan has received threats. In August his young brother was killed.

The Pakistani authorities must do their utmost to shed light on the disappearance of Dilawar Khan Reporters without Borders BBC reporter's brother killed

It is not clear if that attack was linked to Mr Khan's work as a journalist.

He is one of the few local journalists reporting on the Pakistani army's fight with pro-Taleban militants in the troubled Waziristan region on the Afghan border.

A number of journalists have gone missing, and some have been killed, after covering stories considered sensitive by the military or the militants.

'Seriously injured'

Mr Khan had met another brother, Zulfiqar Ali, at the Islamic University in the capital on Sunday.

He was due to travel back to the town of Dera Ismail Khan where he lives on Monday but never arrived.

His family say a number of unidentified men came to the university hostel looking for his brother to tell him that Dilawar had been injured. He refused to accompany them.

When Zulfiqar Ali rang his brother's mobile phone, a man who gave his name as Dr Jamshed said Mr Khan had been seriously injured in a road accident and was in the Pakistani Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) in Islamabad.

A BBC reporter who went to the PIMS could find no trace of either Mr Khan or a Dr Jamshed.

Army spokesman Shaukat Sultan told the BBC to contact the Interior Ministry for information, as did the Information Ministry. The Interior Ministry would not comment.

BBC Urdu service head Mohammad Hanif said he was very worried for Mr Khan's safety.

"Considering the fact that we have been regularly reporting stories about journalists being picked up by security agencies in Pakistan, we are really concerned," he said.

"Some of these journalists remained missing for months and after their release told us that they were held by intelligence agencies in illegal custody and tortured."

Brother killed

Mr Khan and his family have been targeted on a number of occasions in recent years - it is not clear by whom.

Officials still do not know who abducted his 15-year-old brother, Taimur, in August. He was found with severe head wounds in the town of Wana in South Waziristan and later died of his injuries.

Last year, bombers targeted the Khans' house in Wana and a school run by his family. No one was hurt but the explosion damaged part of their house wall.

Mr Khan has said his family have no personal or tribal enemies.

In February 2005 two journalists in the same car as him were killed when shots were fired at their vehicle in Wana. He was unhurt.

They had been reporting on the signing of a peace agreement between the authorities and tribal fighters.

Mr Khan left his home in Wana last year and moved to Dera Ismail Khan in NWFP after receiving threats from the militants.