PRIEST MURDERED IN BESIEGED SYRIAN CITY

A Dutch priest who had refused to leave the besieged Syrian city of Homs in solidarity with its residents, was on Monday beaten and then shot dead in his monastery by a masked gunman.

During more than three years of war, Father Francis Van der Lugt, 75, had insisted on remaining in the destroyed Old City of Homs, risking starvation and near constant shellfire, until every last civilian could be evacuated from the district.

The Jesuit priest - of the same order as the Pope - had helped to keep the plight of the Old City's residents in the international spotlight by writing letters to his church order in Holland, and posting video messages from inside his monastery in the besieged Bustan al-Diwan district.

It was in this monastery, that, after more than four decades of living in Syria, Father Van der Lugt was murdered.

The gunman entered the monastery at around 9am on Monday morning, said Abo Moaz, an opposition activist who spoke to the Telegraph.

Source: Agencies