GENEVA (AFP) - Thirty-five journalists were killed on the job during the first quarter of 2009 - 15 more than during the same period last year, media watchdog group Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) said Thursday. The Geneva-based organisation also listed a slew of journalists who have been abducted, imprisoned or detained in various countries in what it described overall as a serious deterioration in media work and media protection. Pakistan was the deadliest region for journalists, with five killed so far this year, followed by conflict-torn Gaza Strip and Iraq, with four deaths apiece, the group said in its latest monthly report. Journalists were also killed in 13 other countries during the first three months of this year, including in Afghanistan, Madagascar, Mexico and Sri Lanka. Among those being detained are US journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling, who are being held at a facility in Pyongyang after being apprehended last month on North Koreas border with China. The PEC called for their immediate release along with others including Roxana Saber, who has been held in a Tehran prison since late January. The PEC also highlighted the plights of journalists kidnapped in Pakistan, Sierra Leone and Somalia.