A Pakistani private news channel says gunmen have shot and killed one of its reporters in the country's tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

Rana Jawad, an official at Geo News, says their reporter Malik Mumtaz was targeted in Miran Shah, the main city in North Waziristan.

It was not immediately clear whether the attack on Malik was related to his work.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for Wednesday's killing.

Acccording to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least seven reporters were killed in Pakistan last year, making it the third most deadly country for journalists.

In November, police defused a bomb attached to the car of Geo's anchorperson Hamid Mir in Islamabad.