Algerian journalists Adel Zerrouk and Fadila Nejma were killed while covering
mass anti-government protests organized by Berber community leaders in the
capital, Algiers.
Nejma, a reporter for the Arabic weekly Echourouk, died after being struck by a speeding bus during the protests. Nejma suffered severe chest and leg injuries and died later in the hospital.
Local journalists and press sources reported that the bus driver ran over Nejma while trying to escape demonstrators intent on torching his bus, or that one of the protesters had commandeered the vehicle and was trying to crash it into local security forces.
Also killed was Zerrouk, a reporter with the Arabic daily Al-Rai. Some CPJ sources and local press reports stated that Zerrouk died after a crowd of protesters trampled him. According to other reports, however, the journalist was hit by the same bus that killed Nejma.