French tv journalist killed covering Syrian uprising

Reporters Without Borders says French reporter Gilles Jacquier of the French TV station France 2 was killed today by a shell or rocket in Syria.

Jacquier was on a government-authorised reporting visit with other journalists in the city of Homs, one of the bastions of anti-government protest in Syria.

Reporters Without Borders said: “Jacquier is the first foreign journalist to be killed in Syria since the start of the uprising on 15 March 2011.

“Our thoughts are with his family and colleagues. We call on the authorities to shed all possible light on this tragic event with help from the Arab League’s observers.”

A witness said a shell or rocket landed on the group of journalists while they were at the border between the Akrama Al-Jedida and Al-Nuzha neighbourhoods in southern Homs, killing Jacquier on the spot and wounding many other people, including journalists. According to an AFP correspondent, dutch photographer Steven Visner sustained an eye injury.

A roving foreign correspondent for France 2 since 1999, Jacquier had covered fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo and Israel, and was in Syria to do a report for the France 2 programme “Envoyé Spécial.”

A Syrian professional journalist and two Syrian citizen journalists have also been killed since the start of the uprising in Syria, Reporters Without Borders says.

Pic: Reporters Without Borders