Journalist shot dead in Pakistan

Mr Hashimzada was critical of the militants

Unidentified gunmen have shot dead an Afghan journalist in north-west Pakistan, officials say.

Janullah Hashimzada, 40, was the bureau chief in Peshawar for Afghanistan's Shamshad television channel.

He was returning from Afghanistan when his bus was ambushed near Jamrud, the main town in Khyber tribal district.

No one has admitted carrying out the attack. The area is a stronghold of the Taliban. Mr Hashimzada was an outspoken critic of the militants.

"The attackers in a Toyota Corolla car intercepted the bus and made it stop and then they went inside and shot him dead," Reuters news agency quoted Rehan Khattak, a government official in Jamrud, as saying.

One passenger was wounded, he said.

Mr Hashimzada was a well-known face on Shamshad TV.

He also worked as a freelance, supplying video footage to international media organisations around the world, including the BBC.

The Shamshad channel is popular in insurgency-hit provinces in Afghanistan and also broadcasts to Pakistan, including some parts of the tribal areas which border Afghanistan.

At least three other journalists have been killed in north-west Pakistan this year.

Media freedom groups say the region, which is beset with Islamist militancy and tribal violence, is one of the world's most dangerous for journalists.