Journo's death: Scribes stage token walkout of Foreign Office

Pakistani and foreign journalists on Thursday staged a token walkout of the weekly news briefing at the Foreign Office here to protest the killing of Asia Times Online bureau chief Syed Saleem Shahzad, whose body was found in Punjab province a day after he was reported missing.

At the start of the briefing, a representative of the journalists announced they would stage a brief walkout to protest Shahzad's killing. They demanded a thorough investigation of the incident so that the killers are punished.

The journalists returned to the room after a few minutes and the briefing resumed. Foreign Office spokesperson Tehmina Janjua condemned the killing of Shahzad, saying he was a courageous journalist who was known across the world for his work.

"We expect the perpetrators of this terrible crime will be brought to justice at the soonest," Janjua said. Shahzad was killed two days after he filed a report about the possible infiltration of the Pakistan navy by Al Qaeda.

He went missing on Sunday evening while driving from his home to a TV station in the heart of Islamabad.

The TV channel wanted to interview Shahzad regarding his report which alleged that terrorists attacked the PNS Mehran naval airbase in Karachi on May 22 after the failure of secret talks between the Pakistan Navy and Al Qaeda to free some naval personnel arrested for links to the terrorist network.