Bodies of reporter, photographer found in Syria

Syrian authorities have found the bodies of US journalist Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik in the Baba Amr district of powderkeg Homs Thursday after rebels retreated, the foreign ministry said. "Authorities this morning located the bodies of the two journalists, American Marie Colvin and Frenchman Remi Ochlik, in a great humanitarian effort," a source at the ministry said quoted by Sana news agency. The two had been "buried in the region which was controlled by armed terrorist groups". The journalists were killed during a February 22 rocket attack on a makeshift media centre in Baba Amr, a rebel stronghold in the central Syrian city of Homs. There was also a third body which a "reliable source" said was that of Spanish journalist Javier Espinosa. However a Spanish newspaper reported that he was safe and well. "It is impossible," that he is dead, said Inaki Gil, deputy director of El Mundo. "I spoke to him this morning and this afternoon. He is in Beirut." The bodies were transferred to a Damascus hospital and they will be handed over to the Polish embassy, which is representing the United States, France and Spain, in the presence of the International Red Cross, after Syria has carried out DNA tests on the remains, the ministry said. "Syria offers its condolences to the families of the victims and hopes that foreign citizens will abstain from entering Syrian territory illegally and going into regions where there are armed terrorists," the ministry statement said.