Pakistani journalist killed by militants near northwestern tribal region

TANK, Pakistan, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- A local journalist was shot dead Tuesday by militants in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, near the country's volatile northwestern tribal region.

Muhammad Zaman Mehsud was traveling in the province's Tank district when two motorcycle-riding gunmen opened fire, police say. He was rushed to a local hospital and pronounced dead.

Zaman Mehsud reportedly worked as a senior journalist for Umaat, and Urdu daily newspaper, and served as president and secretary general of the Tribal Union of Journalists in South Waziristan, where he lived.

According to a report last year by the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 56 journalists have been killed in Pakistan since 1992.

The Tank district is in the southern portion of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which lies east of seven federally administered tribal agencies along the Afghan border where militants with the Taliban, al-Qaida and affiliates of the Islamic State are known to operate.

Last week, firing from across the border in Afghanistan killed at least seven Pakistani soldiers at a post in the South Waziristan tribal region.