By Declan Walsh, New York Times, Jan. 18/19, 2012

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility on Wednesday for the killing of a reporter for the Voice of America, a radio service financed by the United States government, and warned that others would be targets in the future.

A masked gunman strode into a mosque during evening prayers in Shabqadar, a small town in the tribal area of northwest Pakistan, on Tuesday evening and opened fire on the reporter, Mukarram Khan Aatif, as he was praying, his colleagues said.

Mukurram Khurasani, an aide to the Taliban commander in Mohmand, the tribal area near the attack, said his group was responsible for the killing. “All reporters of Voice of America are our targets and should resign; otherwise we will kill them,” he told a local reporter in a telephone interview.

The killing underscored Pakistan’s reputation as the world’s most dangerous beat for reporters, and it raised fresh questions about the future of American-financed journalism in the region. “Everyone is worried for himself and his family, and in particular those working for the American media,” said Iqbal Khattak, a local reporter and representative of the Paris-based advocacy organization Reporters Without Borders, in Peshawar. “The Taliban have made it clear they will target those they deem to be ‘C.I.A. agents.’ ” [....]