One of Pakistan's most respected journalists Rahimullah Yusufzai passed on Thursday after battling cancer for 15 months, his son Arshad announced on Facebook.

People took to Twitter to mourn the loss of a journalist most people described as iconic, courageous and fearless.

The soft-spoken Yusufzai was born in Mardan and attended schools in KP as well as DJ Sindh Science College and University of Karachi.

He was known for his expertise in political religious affairs, the Taliban, and security issues in the region. He was affiliated with the Jang group and was a frequent contributor to many monthly publications like Time Magazine and Newsline. He was also a correspondent for BBC Pashto and Urdu services.

In an interview to The Independent in 2010, Yusufzai told Robert Fisk the Taliban respected him because he was the first journalist to visit them.

Fisk's piece on Yusufzai starts with an anecdote about BBC reporter Matt Frei traveling on a PIA flight within Pakistan with Yusufzai. Frei's friend, who was meant to join him on that flight, and Frei asked the check in desk if they could hold the plane for a few minutes. The clerk replied, the plane would not take off "unless Rahimullah Yusufzai is on board. Now that is what you call respect," Fisk wrote.

Yusufzai was also well known for his interview with Osama bin Laden in 1998 and he narrated what it was like to meet him as well as Mullah Omar in a piece for The Guardian in 2001.

"We talked for four hours through the night, drinking tea," he wrote about one of his meetings with Bin Laden. "He carefully denied involvement in the US embassy bombings, but said he felt joy that they had happened, and I took that as an indirect admission."

More recently Yusufzai discussed his meetings with Bin Laden in an online lecture he gave for the Razia Bhatti Memorial Lecture to CEJ-IBA.

Rich tributes poured in on Twitter to salute his courageous reporting.

Journalists abroad also sent their condolences.

Many expressed sorrow at losing a mentor.

Yusufzai will be buried in his ancestral village on Friday.