Japanese journalist killed in Syria, 3 more missing - NGO

An image grab from a video uploaded on YouTube shows fire and smoke billowing from shelling on the Saif al-Dawla neighborhood of Syria's northern city of Aleppo. An NGO reported that a female Japanese journalist had been killed and three other reporters were missing in a district where rebels and government forces were locked in battle. (AFP/YouTube)

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InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5

BEIRUT -- (UPDATE 3 - 7:03 a.m.) A female Japanese journalist was killed Monday while covering clashes in Syria's Aleppo, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that three other reporters were missing.

The slain reporter, who Japanese authorities have identified as Mika Yamamoto, died in Suleiman al-Halabi, a district in the east of Syria's second city where troops and rebels were locked in clashes.

The NGO added that one of two missing Arab reporters is a Lebanese woman and the other is a man working for a US media outlet.

The third missing reporter is Turkish.

The Japanese journalist 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.

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

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