Hillary Clinton condemns Pakistani journalist's killing

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton has condemned the killing of Pakistani journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad.

"The United States strongly condemns the abduction and killing of reporter Syed Saleem Shahzad," Hillary Clinton said in a statement.

"His work reporting on terrorism and intelligence issues in Pakistan brought to light the troubles extremism poses to Pakistan's stability," Online news agency quoted Clinton as saying.

Shahzad, 40, went missing Sunday from outside his residence in Islamabad and he was said to have been picked up by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence. His body was found near a canal Tuesday.

A correspondent of Asia Times Online, he wrote extensively on Islamist groups.

He had authored an article for Asia Times that said that al-Qaeda's operational arm attacked Karachi's Mehran naval base after the navy didn't free sailors arrested for suspected Islamist links.