Mika Yamamoto, an award-winning journalist, was killed in Syria - Examiner.com

On August 20, 2012, Wikipedia states that Mika Yamamoto was killed. She was shot while working as a journalist in Aleppo, Syria.

This award-winning Japanese video and photo journalist worked for the news agency, Japan Press.

Mika Yamamoto was covering the ongoing Syrian civil war in Aleppo when she was shot and killed. The last footage seen of her, hours before her death, can be viewed below in video.

Yamamoto is the first Japanese and fourth foreign journalist killed in the Syrian civil war that began in March 2011. She is the fifteenth journalist killed in Syria in 2012

In 1990 Yamamoto's career began as a director at a cable TV broadcasting company, Asahi Newstar, where she produced documentaries and news programs. In 1995 she joined The Japan Press.

A few of Yamamoto's many assignments, as a correspondent, were often located in critical areas such as Kosovo, Bosna, Chechnya, Indonesia, Afghanistan in 2001, Iraq in 2003 and Uganda.

Yamamoto also reported on the suppression of the Afghan women in Kabul, and she interviewed Taliban members in Afghanistan.

In addition, she worked as a special correspondent for Nippon TV in Iraq. She survived air raids on the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad in 2003 when two journalists from Reuters and a Spanish broadcaster were killed. She worked, as well, as a reporter for a Nippon TV news program in 2003 and 2004.

Mika Yamamoto always employed hand-held video cameras and did her own editing during her reporting activities.

Yamamoto not only worked as a journalist, but she also worked as a part-time instructor at Waseda University's journalism school a few times. Her lectures were concerned with the effects of war on ordinary citizens and the role of journalism during the times of war.

In November 2011, she began to serve as an independent consultant to the Government Revitalization Unit, with the responsilibity for reducing unnecessary spending.

Awards earned by Yamamoto:

• Presidential Prize for her coverage of Afghanistan
• 26th Nugichi Award in 2002
• Vaughn-Uyeda Memorial Prize of the Japanese Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association for her reporting of the international affairs in 2004

The attack on Yamamoto and her Japanese colleague, Kazutaka Sato, took place during their travels with the Free Syrian Army members.

Yamamoto was seriously wounded in the Suleiman al Halabi district of the city during a clash between Syrian opposite forces and pro-government forces on August 20th. She died that same day at a nearby hospital after being shot in the neck.

Sato stated that Yamamoto's death occurred when pro-regime troops appeared and started randomly shooting.

Yamamoto was survived by her husband (who was with her), two sisters and her father, Koji Yamamoto, a former Asahi Shimbun reporter.

There are no still photos available of Mika Yamamoto, but she can be seen in video which contains the last footage she shot hours before her death. The slideshow is dedicated in her memory.

Condolences go to family and friends.