Middle East News

Two Western journalists killed in Syria shelling

Feb 22, 2012, 12:14 GMT

Handout photo issued on 22 February 2012 by the Sunday Times, shows Marie Colvin, covering Egyptians\' uprising in Tahrir square, Cairo, Egypt, 04 February 2011. EPA/IVOR PRICKETT/THE SUNDAY TIMES/HO HANDOUT

Beirut - Two Western journalists were killed and two others injured Wednesday when Syrian government forces shelled the flashpoint city of Homs, opposition activists said.

The two deaths - a US woman and a French man - were among 22 people who were killed in the renewed shelling on the district of Baba Amr in Homs, added the activists.

The woman was identified as Marie Colvin, a veteran war correspondent who worked for the Sunday Times in London, reported the BBC.

The French man was Remi Ochlik, a press photographer, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights, which has agents in Homs.

Ochlik reportedly worked for the French Magazine Paris Match.

The two reporters injured in the shelling were identified as a British man and a French woman, according to Omar Homsi, a Syrian activist based in Homs.

'The British man was hit by shrapnel across his body while the French lady has sustained serious wounds and needs an immediate operation,' Homsi told dpa.

'The two journalists were hurt when the apartment where they lived in Baba Amr came under heavy shelling,' he said.

Baba Amr has been pounded by the government troops since February 4, according to the opposition.

The group of journalists was smuggled by Syrian opposition activists into Baba Amr two days ago so they could do some independent reporting, according to Homsi.

The regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has barred foreign media from entering the country since a pro-democracy uprising erupted last March.

Syrian authorities have recently allowed in some foreign journalists, but forced them to travel with minders from the Ministry of Information.

French television reporter Gilles Jacquier was killed in Homs last month when a shell exploded next to him while he was on an organized visit by the Syrian authorities to the area.

Homs, dubbed the 'capital of the Syrian revolution,' is one of the Syrian cities hardest hit by the government crackdown.

On Tuesday, activists reported that some 100 people, including 56 in Homs, were killed by government forces across Syria.