Marie Colvin: Sunday Times Journalist and French Photographer Killed in Syria Shelling

Two Western journalists were reported to have been killed in Syria Wednesday after government forces shelled the restive central city of Homs, Associated Press reported.

The reporters were named as Marie Colvin, an American national, working for Sunday Times journalist and Remi Ochlik, a French national working as French photographer.

A witness told Reuters over phone that shells hit the house where the two journalists were staying and a rocket hit them as they were escaping.

The journalists were staying in a building which was a makeshift media centre in Baba Amr area that was hit by the bombardment.

Both the journalists were veteran war reporters in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Several other people were also killed in the bombardment in Syria, a Syrian activist said.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, There have been reports that American and French journalists were martyred during the shelling that Baba Amr neighborhood was subjected to this morning.

Colvin, who was based in Britain, was a highly respected foreign reporter who covered the wars in Middle East for more than two decades. She was also known for her work in Sri Lanka where she lost her left eye.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe confirmed the death of the French photographer and told reporters that French authorities have expressed condolences to the journalist's family and were working to obtain the exact details about the killing.