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FACTBOX-Journalists killed in Syria

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 11:18 GMT

Source: reuters // Reuters

Feb 22 (Reuters) - Two Western journalists were killed in the besieged Syrian city of Homs on Wednesday.

Syria banned almost all foreign journalists from the start of the uprising, but the authorities have started issuing short-term visas for a limited number of journalists, who are allowed to move around accompanied by government minders.

Syrian security forces have killed more than 5,000 people, according to human rights groups, while the government of President Bashar al-Assad says more than 2,000 soldiers and security agents have been killed.

Here are some details of journalists reported killed in Syria:

* Gilles Jacquier, of the French TV station France 2, was killed in January this year by a shell or rocket while on a government-authorised reporting visit to Homs. At least seven other people were killed in the same incident. He was the first foreign journalist to be killed since the start of the uprising in March 2011.

* Marie Colvin, an American who worked for Britain's Sunday Times and Remi Ochlik, a French photographer, were killed on Wednesday in Homs. At least two other journalists were wounded in the attack on the house they were staying in and when they were trying to escape.

* The Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders have documented the deaths of at least four Syrian journalists in Syria.

-- In November, cameraman Ferzat Jerban was found dead in Homs. Basil al-Sayed, a freelance cameraman, was shot in the head at a Homs checkpoint in late December. Shukri Ahmed Ratib Abu Burghul, who hosted a weekly programme on Radio Damascus, died in January 2012 in Damascus days after being shot. In February, Mazhar Tayyara, a photojournalist who contributed to Agence France-Presse and other international outlets, was killed by government forces' fire in Homs.

* New York Times journalist Anthony Shadid died of an asthma attack while reporting in eastern Syria in February. Shadid was an American of Lebanese descent, and was the recipient of Pulitzer Prizes in 2004 and 2010 for his Iraq coverage.

Sources: Reuters/http://en.rsf.org/www.cpj.org (Reporting by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit)