Twelve journalists killed this year, RSF says

Half of the 20 journalists killed in the course of their work in the first eight months of this year died in Sierra Leone, and two in Nigeria, according to Reporters sans Frontieres. Ten journalists were killed in Sierra Leone, "the most dangerous country for journalists at the moment", RSF said in a news release. Eight were murdered by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebel group in January, when it overran Freetown, one was shot dead by the West African peacekeeping force, ECOMOG. A third died in detention from tuberculosis contracted while in prison. Two journalists were killed in Nigeria as they were covering clashes between rival ethnic groups, according to the RSF news release, issued on 16 August.