French TV reporter killed by mortar fire in Syria
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By Douglas Stanglin, USA TODAY Updated 17h 55m ago
A reporter for France 2 TV was killed today in an attack while covering violence in the Syrian city of Homs, according to the French foreign minister and the network.
Update at 11:16 a.m. ET: Gilles Jacquier was on a rare Western reporting trip authorized by Syria’s embattled government amid a 10-month uprising against the regime of President Bashar Assad. Another France 2 reporter was uninjured.
News director Thierry Thullier of France Televisions, the parent station of France 2, told French TV BFM that Jacquier appeared to have been killed by a mortar or rocket as part of a series of attacks, the Associated Press reports.
It was the first known instance of a Western journalist dying in Syria amid the unrest. Syrian authorities have denied many efforts by Western journalists to enter the country since the uprising began.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe, in a statement, said Jacquier had been killed "in an attack" in Homs, calling it an "odious act" and demanding an investigation into the killing.
"It’s up to Syrian authorities to ensure the security of international journalists on their territory, and to protect this fundamental liberty which is the freedom of information," Juppe said.
The United Nations estimates that more than 5,000 people have been killed in the uprising, the Associated Press reports.
Update at 10:39 a.m. CNN reports that the journalist killed was French and was on a government-sanctioned tour. CNN’s Nic Robertson quotes eyewitnesses as saying two people, including the journalist, were killed and 25 injured when the group came under mortar attack in Homs.
Update at 10:34 a.m. ET:Al Arabiya reports that the journalist who was killed is from Belgium. There has been no outside confirmation of the report.
Update at 10:24 a.m. ET: MSNBC says the unidentified journalist was reportedly among eight people who were killed. Syria’s Addounia TV said at least 25 other people were wounded, including a second journalist.
Original post: Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, cited activists for his group in Homs with direct knowledge of the death.
A provincial official in Homs also said a Westerner in a "media delegation" had been killed there. He had no details and asked that his name not be published because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The Observatory activists in Homs said the journalists were hit by grenades or rocket fire today, the AP reports.
Homs is one of the main hotbeds of opposition in the 10-month-long uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.