Dilawar Khan Wazir, a Pakistani reporter working for BBC Urdu service and Pakistani newspaper DAWN covering events of northwest Pakistan's tribal region, was released by kidnappers on Tuesday evening a day after his missing, according to media reports.

Wazir had gone missing in Islamabad on Monday after he had left the hostel of the International Islamic University, where he had gone to meet his younger brother.

Wazir was blindfolded and beaten during custody, and he was questioned about his reporting in tribal areas and his sources of information, according to releases published on BBC website late Tuesday night and Wednesday's DAWN newspaper.

"He did not know who his kidnappers were," said the BBC report.

Both the BBC and DAWN have approached Pakistani government officials, expressing serious concern over the circumstances in which Wazir went missing.

Accordingly, the mobile phone of Wazir was answered Monday by some mysterious person, saying Wazir was seriously hurt in an Islamabad hospital, but further checks indicated there was no sign of Wazir.

While reporting from the South Waziristan tribal region, where many clashes between local tribals and security forces happened, Wazir has escaped several attempts on his life.

In February 2005, two journalists were killed when gunmen fired at their car in Wana, a town of South Waziristan. Wazir was then in the same car but fortunately unhurt.

A bomb exploded outside Wazir's house in Karikot, South Waziristan on Dec. 16, 2005.

His 14-year-old brother Taimur Khan, abducted by unknown persons on Aug. 29, 2006, was found with severe head wounds the following day in Wana and later died of his injuries.

Editor: Donald