Japanese reporter killed in Syria

Agence France-Presse

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A female Japanese journalist was killed while covering clashes in Aleppo, Syria, while 3 other reporters were missing

BEIRUT, Lebanon – A female Japanese journalist was killed Monday, August 20, while covering clashes in Syria’s northern city of Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that three other reporters were missing.

The Japanese reporter was killed at Suleiman al-Halabi, a district in the east of Syria’s second city where troops and rebels were locked in clashes. The  Japanese embassy identified the reporter as Mika Yamamoto, according to Kyodo.

The Britain-based NGO added that one of two missing Arab reporters was a Lebanese woman and the other a man working for a US media outlet. The third missing reporter is Turkish.

“She was seriously wounded Monday while covering the clashes at Suleiman al-Halabi which have been going on since yesterday. We took her to hospital where she succumbed to her injuries,” Rami Abdel Rahmane, the Observatory’s president, told AFP, citing medical officials from the hospital.

“She was very likely hit by a projectile,” added Rahmane, who was unable to give further details about the missing journalists.

A video posted by militants on YouTube showed a female body lying in a room. It was presented as the corpse of the Japanese journalist, and said she was killed by militia allied to President Bashar al-Assad’s troops.

A prominent injury could be seen on her right arm. Next to her, an Asian-looking man appeared to be asking for medical assistance.

4th reporter killed

AFP was unable to independently confirm the authenticity of the video, or the information presented in it.

If the Japanese journalist’s death is confirmed by other sources, she would be the fourth foreign reporter killed in the violence in Syria since March 2011.

French reporter Gilles Jacquier was killed on January 11 at central Syria’s Homs, where American journalist Marie Colvin and French photographer both perished on February 22. – Agence France-Presse

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