DHAKA: Rebels loyal to Al-Qaeda have kidnapped and executed an Iraqi freelance cameraman working in northern Syria.

A press freedom watchdog told media on Thursday, reports The Straits Times.

‘Yasser Faysal al-Joumaili’s execution was the first of a foreign journalist in Syria’s so-called liberated areas,’ said Soazig Dollet, head of Reporters Without Borders’ Middle East and North Africa desk.

Joumaili had been working as a freelance cameraman for an unidentified Spanish media outlet in strife-torn Aleppo province for about 10 days, Soazig said.

He was kidnapped by fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) while on his way out of Syria and executed in the north-western border province of Idlib on Wednesday, she added.

BDST: 1809 HRS, DEC 05, 2013