Press TV Lebanese Bureau Chief Wounded, Reporter Killed in Syria

Iran's Press TV and al-Alam network bureaus chief in Syria, Lebanese national Hussein Mortada, was wounded on Wednesday in a sniper attack that left his colleague dead as they reported from the site of twin bomb blasts near Syrian army headquarters.

Both channels reported that Mortada was shot in the back by sniper fire in the Syrian capital Damascus.

According to Press TV said in a bulletin on its news website that Mortada's colleague, Maya Nasser, who worked as a corespondent, was killed by the sniper fire.

Press TV was not immediately able to give Nasser's nationality.

Nasser and Mortada were targeted when they arrived at the site of the twin bombings near the headquarters of the Syrian armed forces general staff in the capital's heavily guarded Umayyad Square district.

Earlier on Wednesday, bombers struck the heart of Damascus sparking twin explosions near the headquarters of the armed forces general staff, state media said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said automatic weapons fire was heard after the blasts as clashes erupted with security forces.

Press TV, which broadcasts in English, and al-Alam, an Arabic-language network, are financed by the Iranian government, which is fully supporting the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad in its struggle against an 18-month rebellion.