Pakistani reporters protest over colleague's death

ISLAMABAD, June 19 (Reuters) Hundreds of journalists and opposition supporters protested in Pakistan today to demand action over the killing of a reporter abducted last year after reporting on the death of an al Qaeda leader.

The journalist, Hayatullah Khan, was found dead on Friday, handcuffed and shot in the back of the head. His body was dumped near the town of Mir Ali, in North Waziristan on the Afghan border, where he was abducted by unknown gunmen in December.

The government has promised a judicial inquiry but journalists protesting in Islamabad demanded a Supreme Court investigation.

''The judicial commission is just a lolly-pop,'' Aroosa Alam, leader of the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Union of Journalists, told a rally of reporters outside parliament.

''We want the government to let a fact-finding mission of journalists and parliamentarians to visit North Waziristan because we don't trust them,'' he said, referring to the authorities. Access to the sensitive region is restricted.

Khan covered security issues for various publications, including the Nation English-language newspaper.

He was abducted shortly after reporting on an explosion in a militant hideout near the Afghan border that killed Abu Hamza Rabia.

Authorities said Rabia was a senior al Qaeda leader and was killed when explosives at the hideout went off accidently.

But residents said the hideout was hit by a missile and Khan was the first reporter to photograph fragments found at the scene that appeared to be from a US missile.

Pakistan is a US ally but it does not officially allow US forces to operate, or attack targets, on its soil.

''It's a message to all of us, that we should shut our mouths or we'll face the same treatment,'' a journalist group leader, Afzal Butt, told the rally, referring to Khan's death.

Reporters and opposition supporters demonstrated in at least two other parts of the country on Monday, after similar protests at the weekend.

Reporters in Islamabad said they would refuse to cover parliament and foreign office briefings until their demands were met.

International press freedom groups have called for a full investigation into Khan's killing.

REUTERS SHB RN1742