Syria State TV Journalist Shot Dead

A Syrian state television journalist was shot dead in the capital on Wednesday, the latest in a string of employees of pro-government media to be killed, the official SANA news agency reported.

"An armed terrorist group assassinated journalist at the Public Authority for Radio and Television, Basel Tawfiq Yousef, in the Tadamun neighborhood of Damascus," the news agency said.

The south Damascus district of Tadamun has seen heavy fighting between rebels and troops since the outbreak of major violence in the capital in July.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the journalist was targeted because activists regarded him as a member of the "shabiha," militia supporters of President Bashar Assad who have been accused of some of the worst abuses of the 20-month uprising against his rule.

Staff of pro-government media have been among 14 professional journalists killed in Syria since the uprising erupted in March last year. Another 38 citizen journalists have been killed, according to media watchdog Reporters Without Borders.

Those killed have included the domestic news editor of SANA, a state television presenter and a journalist from the cultural section of the government daily Tishrin.

Meanwhile, the body of Syrian novelist Mohammed Rashid al-Ruwaili was found on Thursday in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, 10 months after he disappeared, the Observatory said.

Activists cited by the Britain-based watchdog blamed the security forces for his disappearance and death.