Taliban militants in northwest Pakistan have bombed the home of a journalist who files reports for Voice of America's Pashto language service.
Rahman Bunairee said a few dozen militants came to his home in Buner district Wednesday night and told his father that because his son was speaking against militants, they had been ordered to blow up his home.
Bunairee said the militants allowed the 11 members of his family inside at the time to leave and then ransacked the house for valuables before detonating explosives. No one was reported hurt in the blast.
Bunairee was not home at the time of the attack. He said he and his family have relocated to a safe place.
The journalist suggested the Taliban action may have been retaliation for one of his recent reports which said that militants are still patrolling streets in several villages in Buner despite claims by the government that the Taliban largely have been eliminated from the area.
The reporter said militants threatened to take further action if he does not stop his reporting.
VOA's 'Deewa Radio' produces news and current affairs programs for the community of nearly 40 million Pashtuns living in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Its nine hours of live programming each day are broadcast on short wave and FM radio stations throughout the border region.
The Voice of America, which first went on the air in 1942, is a multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. Government through the Broadcasting Board of Governors. VOA broadcasts approximately 1,500 hours of news, information, educational, and cultural programming every week to an estimated worldwide audience of 138 million people.
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