The family members of tribal journalist Hayatullah Khan alleged that state agencies were involved in his murder.

The 29-year-old journalist, who was abducted on December 5 2005 while investigating the death of an Al Qaeda operative in the tribal areas, was found dead on 17 June 2006. He was handcuffed and had been shot in the back of the head.

Hayatullah younger brother Ehsanullah Khan believed that an intelligence agency was involved in his murder and vowed to “avenge” his killing. Talking with Daily Fact he said that North Waziristan chief administrator Zaheerul Islam told him a week ago that Hayatullah’s family would get “good news” about him by June 20. “The chief administrator honored his words by handing Hayatullah over to us, although dead,” he said.

Another of Hayatullah’s brothers, Hasneenullah, told that “my brother sacrificed his life for exposing the truth. He was a bold journalist.”

Hayatullah went missing days after photographing shrapnel from a Hellfire missile allegedly fired by an American unmanned warplane to target Al Qaeda operative Hamza Rabia in Mir Ali. The widely published photograph contradicted a government claim that Rabia had died while making bombs in his hide-out in Mir Ali.

The journalist community in Pakistan called the murder a “failure” of the state to protect its citizens. International media rights group Reporters Without Borders demanded an inquiry into whether the country’s secret services were involved in his murder.

“Even if there is nothing to clearly identify the killers, many people have accused the Pakistani secret services of responsibility for the abduction of this journalist. If the authorities want to avoid the finger of suspicion being pointed at them, they should urgently carry out a rigorous and impartial investigation,” it said in a statement.

Speakers at a demonstration in different parts of the country also pointed an accusing finger at the government. However, Federal Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao blamed “elements who are responsible for terrorist activities aimed at creating chaos” in the tribal areas.