Hayatullah Khan, who reported last year that an al Qaeda commander died in a U.S. missile strike and not as a result of a bomb-making accident (the Pakistan government's story), has been found dead.

An excerpt from the BBC story:

"He was shot in the back," an official, Fida Mohammed, told AFP news agency. He said the killing appeared to be recent.

Mr Khan disappeared in December after reporting that Abu Hamza Rabia had been killed by a US missile - not in a bomb making accident as claimed by Pakistan.

Tied up

Relatives found Mr Khan's body 3km south of Mir Ali near the Afghan border on Friday.

He had been handcuffed and appeared to have been shot from behind while trying to escape, his brother, Ehsanullah, told the BBC.

The journalist had lost a lot of weight and had grown a long beard.

Mr Khan's brother said the handcuffs were of a type usually used by security forces.

The BBC's Haroon Rashid in Peshawar says it is a mystery who kidnapped and killed Mr Khan.

Both the militants and the authorities denied knowledge of his whereabouts during the six months he was missing.

Local tribal journalists' organisations have blamed the government for his death because it failed to rescue him.