Marie Colvin killed in shelling of Homs

MARIE COLVIN, one of the foremost war correspondents of her generation, was one of two Western journalists killed in shelling in the Syrian city of Homs today, according to Reuters. The other is said to be Frenchman Remi Ochlik.

The BBC reports that a shell hit a makeshift media centre in the Baba Amr district of Homs, which has been under heavy bombardment by government troops for weeks. Colvin, 55, and Ochlik were among several others who were killed or wounded in the same building.

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Their deaths follow the killings of around 40 people in the bombardment of Homs yesterday. Meanwhile, in the northern province of Idlib, Syrian soldiers are reported to have raided three villages, killing at least 33 people. In total, more than 100 people are thought to have been killed across Syria yesterday.

Colvin, a reporter for the Sunday Times, was famous for her eyepatch, which she wore after losing her left eye to a shrapnel wound while reporting on the Sri Lankan civil war.

Last year, she reported from the Libyan city of Misrata during the heaviest part of the siege. Colvin, an American, is thought to have been the only journalist for a British newspaper in Homs.

Colvin’s final report came yesterday, when she spoke to the BBC about what she called the “absolutely sickening” situation in Homs.

“I watched a little baby die today,” she said. “A two-year-old. They stripped it and found the shrapnel had gone into the left chest and the doctor said, ‘I can’t do anything.’ That is happening over and over and over.” ·