“I condemn the killing of Suhail Mahmoud Al-Ali,” said the Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Irina Bokova, recalling that more journalists were killed in Syria in 2012 than anywhere else.

“I am appalled by the death toll of Syrian journalists and call on all parties to recognize reporters’ duty to continue informing the public even in the midst of strife,” Ms. Bokova added. “Once again, I call on all sides to respect journalists’ civilian status and let them benefit from their basic right to speak freely, in keeping with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”

According to the non-governmental organization Reporters Without Borders, Al-Ali died from injuries while covering fighting in the city of Aleppo.

In total, 41 professional and citizen journalists died in Syria last year and more than 60,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the country since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in early 2011. Recent months have witnessed an escalation in the conflict, which is now in its 23rd month.

Separately today, a UN spokesperson announced that the Joint Special Representative of the United Nations and the League of Arab States for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, will meet on Friday in Geneva with Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Mikhail Bogdanov, and the United States Deputy Secretary of State, William Burns.

The meeting is aimed at furthering their discussions to arrive at a political solution to the crisis in Syria. Mr. Brahimi has been holding meetings in the Middle East region and elsewhere, as part of his efforts to bring an end the conflict.

“I am horrified by the sudden upsurge of violence targeting the media in Somalia,” said the Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Irina Bokova, adding that the killings are an outrage against the whole nation.

“They are also an extreme violation of the right to freedom of expression and freedom of the press – both essential for the construction and functioning of healthy democracies, and especially important in a nation trying to rebuild after so many years of conflict,” she added.

The journalists were killed in three separate attacks occurring on 16, 20 and 21 September.

On Friday, Hassan Youssouf Absuge, a well-known radio journalist, was shot dead as he left the studios of Radio Mantaa, and independent station for which he was the programme director.

On Thursday, three journalists – Liban Ali Nur, head of news at Somali National TV, Abdisatar Daher Sabriye, head of news at Radio Mogadishu, and Abdirahman Yasin Ali, director of Radio Hamar (Voice of Democracy) – were killed and four others injured in a double suicide-bombing at a popular restaurant frequented by journalists in Mogadishu, the capital.

Four days earlier, Zakariye Mohamed Mohamud Moallim, who worked as an independent cameraman, was shot dead in the Nasib Bundo neighbourhood of Mogadishu.

“I urge the Somali authorities to do everything in their power to bring the perpetrators of these outrageous crimes to justice,” Ms. Bokova said.

These latest killings bring to 13 the number of journalists killed in Somalia this year and 26 the number killed since 2008, UNESCO said in a news release.