Sunday Times reporter Marie Colvin killed in Syrian city of Homs

Homs - Opposition activists in Syria have said two Western journalists reporting from the besieged Syrian city of Homs have died when shells hit the building they were staying in.

US-born veteran Sunday Times journalist Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik, a French photographer, have both been named by France as victims of a Syrian troop onslaught which indiscriminately targeted a makeshift media centre in the Baba Amr area of the city. Several other people were killed in the bombardment in an opposition-held district under siege for the past 17 days. Colvin, who lost an eye due to a shrapnel wound while working in Sri Lanka in 2001, was the only journalist from a British newspaper in Homs. British photographer Paul Conroy who was with Colvin, was wounded after attempting to escape the bombardment after more than 10 rockets hit the house, reports the Daily Telegraph. On Tuesday Red Cross officials called on the government and rebels to agree to a daily ceasefire, to allow medical supplies to reach the worst affected areas and get civilians out, but so far there has been no agreement on this plea, reports the BBC. The media centre had been set up by anti-Assad activists, reports Daily Mail and it was from here Colvin submitted a video report on Tuesday, the day before she died, to a CNN reporter. The report showed a young infant boy dying from shell bombardment wounds on a hospital bed. Warning: Video contains some distressing images