A French TV cameraman became the first Western journalist killed in the 10-month-old Syrian uprising Wednesday, dying in a barrage of grenades during a government-sponsored trip to the restive city of Homs, officials and a witness said.
The violence came just hours after President Bashar Assad made a surprise appearance at a rally in the capital, Damascus, before thousands of supporters.
The killing of Gilles Jacquier, who worked for France-2 Television, was likely to become a rallying cry for both sides, as the regime and the opposition blame each other for a recent spate of mysterious attacks.
The government blamed "terrorists" for Wednesday's attack, which it said also killed eight Syrians.
About 15 journalists were on the government trip when they were hit by several grenades, according to Jens Franssen, who was on the tour. "At some point, three or four (grenade) shells hit, very close to us," Franssen told the Belgian VRT network.
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Video footage posted on YouTube appeared to show the aftermath of the attack, with people frantically loading the injured into cars. There were pools of blood on the ground. The authenticity of the footage, however, could not be independently verified.
A Dutch freelance journalist was also wounded in Homs Wednesday.
Jacquier, 43, was the first foreign journalist to be slain, Reporters Without Borders said. He had reported over the years from Afghanistan, Gaza, Congo, Iraq and Yemen, most recently for the investigative program Special Envoy, his network said.
"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," French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said.
During the uprising, several Syrian journalists have been killed or tortured as they tried to cover the revolt, which has proven the most serious challenge to the Assad family's 40-year dynasty. The U.N. estimates more than 5,000 have been killed since March.
The revolt has become increasingly violent in recent months, but appears far from over. Some 400 people have been reported killed in the last three weeks alone.
At the start of the uprising, much of the violence involved Syrian security forces firing on unarmed, peaceful protesters. In recent months, an increasing number of army defectors and members of the opposition are taking up arms against the government.
