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Journalist killed in Yemen capital bombing

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AFP Sanaa
A freelance Yemeni journalist was killed today in an air raid by the Saudi-led coalition on rebel-held Sanaa, a witness and his employer said.

Almigdad Mojalli was hit by shrapnel as a missile slammed into the capital's southern Jaref suburb while he was covering air strikes, said his colleague, photojournalist Bahir Hameed.

"Planes were hovering above when we were struck," Hameed said.

According to his Twitter account, Mojalli reported for Voice Of America and the IRIN humanitarian news agency.

IRIN said it was "shocked by this terrible loss".

"With great sadness, we received news from the family of Almigdad Mojalli, our regular contributor in Yemen, that he was killed today," said a post on its official Twitter account.
 

"Almigdad was an excellent journalist, committed to neutrally & objectively telling the suffering of the Yemeni people in a brutal civil war.

"We are... Still in the process of gathering information about the circumstances of his death."

At least five journalists were killed in Yemen last year, according to media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

More than 5,800 people have been killed in Yemen since the coalition launched its air campaign in support of the government last March, about half of them civilians, according to the UN.

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First Published: Jan 18 2016 | 12:42 AM IST

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