Six journalists have already been killed around the world since the beginning of 2013, according to the International Press Institute's Death Watch: two in Pakistan and one each in Brazil, Tanzania, the Central African Republic and Syria.
The Pakistani journalists died in a double bomb explosion in the city of Quetta in which 81 people were killed last Thursday (10 January). Saifullah Baloch and Imran Shaikh, respectively a reporter and cameraman with Samaa TV, were killed in the attack by a banned organisation, Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, said the Dawn newspaper.
In Brazil, Renato Machado Gonçalves - founder and co-owner of Radio Barra FM, a community station located in São João da Barra - was shot dead in front of his home on 8 January. According to reports cited by the Knight Centre, Gonçalves was attacked during a political meeting during last October.
In Tanzania, the body of 45-year-old radio journalist Issa Ngumba was discovered on 8 January in a forest near the western city of Kigoma. He had been hanged and there was a gunshot wound to his left arm, according to a report on In2EastAfrica. He worked for Radio Kwizera, and had been missing for four days.
In the Central African Republic, Elisabeth Blanche Olofio was killed on 7 January in a rebel raid on the Catholic community radio station she worked for, Radio Be Oko, in the town of Bambari. It has since stopped broadcasting, according to a UNESCO report.
In Syria, Sohail Mahmud Ali, a journalist working for Syria's pro-regime Dunya TV, was shot dead on 4 January while reporting on clashes in the northern city of Aleppo, reported Lebanon's Daily Star.
