NEW YORK, March 18 (Reuters) - A news photographer who was shot and killed at a demonstration in Saana on Friday became the first confirmed journalist to die in action in Yemen since unrest began there in January, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.
Jamal Al-Sharaabi, a photojournalist for the independent weekly Al-Masdar, died when gunmen fired on demonstrators opposing President Ali Abdullah Saleh, CPJ said, citing local media and the Yemeni Journalists' Syndicate.
Saleh declared a state of emergency after the demonstration during which the gunmen including snipers killed at least 25 protesters. [ID:nLDE72H261]
The president denied his police were behind the massacre. CPJ said 44 were killed.
Among the hundreds of civilians wounded was an unidentified photojournalist working for the BBC Arabic service. He was shot in the shoulder, CPJ said, citing the BBC.
"We extend our condolences to the family and colleagues of Jamal al-Sharaabi, who was killed today as he performed his professional duties," said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, CPJ's Middle East and North Africa program coordinator.
"This killing comes on the heels of many weeks of increasingly hostile rhetoric and violent reprisals against independent and critical media."
The Yemeni Journalists' Syndicate has documented more than 50 separate attacks on journalists since the political unrest began, the New York-based CPJ said.
In Libya, meanwhile, four New York Times journalists who were captured by Libyan forces while covering the conflict were set to be released on Friday, the Times reported. [ID:nN18221637] (Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Xavier Briand)
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