Freelance journalists Walid Balidi and Nasim Itriri were killed in Syria near the Turkish border in Idlib province, El Mundo and the opposition Local Coordinating Committees reported on Monday. A third journalist was reportedly wounded in the attack and is now believed to be recovering in a Turkish hospital, according to activists.

An opposition activist in Idlib told El Mundo that the journalists, who are reportedly British citizens of Algerian origin, were shot by forces loyal to President Bashar Al-Assad. They had entered the country to film a documentary about the “Syrian Revolution,” the Local Coordination Committees reported in a statement.  It was unclear whether they were working for a media house or were working as independent filmmakers.

An activist who was with the journalists told Sarah Giazi of the Rory Peck Trust, a London-based group that specializes in the safety of freelancers, that they had been among a group of around 50 people attempting to enter Syria from Turkey. The house where they were staying came under attack by Syrian forces, prompting those inside to flee; when Balidi and Itriri returned to pick up their equipment, they were shot, the activist told Giazi.

“We are saddened to learn that two more journalists appear to have lost their lives trying to report on the ongoing violence in Syria,” said IPI Press Freedom Manager Anthony Mills. “Syria is now the deadliest country in the world for journalists.”

The Rory Peck Trust said in an emailed statement to IPI: “During recent weeks, journalists have been crossing the borders of Syria from Turkey and Lebanon with activists, which in itself poses dangers.”

The Trust “advises all freelance journalists and media workers to act with extreme caution when working in Syria and not to travel there unless they have undertaken a comprehensive assessment of the risks involved, and put in place proper protective mechanisms.”

IPI welcomes this advice, and further notes that while journalists should educate and protect themselves, governments are ultimately responsible for ensuring their safety. At a meeting organised by the Austrian Foreign Ministry and IPI last November, international experts noted that “while journalists can contribute to their own safety and civil society organizations play an important role in framing the problem, the main responsibility to protect journalists and end impunity remains with state institutions.”

Sadly, this is a responsibility that the Syrian government has refused to shoulder either in theory or in practice. Earlier this month, the Syrian government, which continues to claim it is fighting armed gangs and terrorists, warned that it was monitoring journalists crossing illegally into Syria, whom they accused of “accompanying terrorists” – and said their media houses would be held “legally and morally” responsible for anything that happened to them.

And in fact, as IPI has noted in the past, activists working in the country believe that recent attacks against journalists – including the bombardment that killed Marie Colvin and photojournalist Remi Ochlik in Homs – were targeted, part of an apparent wider effort by Syrian officials to control the story.

It is an effort that has arguably failed, judging by international news reports, but which has nonetheless cost the lives of ten journalists in Syria this year, according to the IPI Death Watch.

Syria is by far the deadliest country for journalists in the world in 2012, followed by Brazil with four deaths, and Somalia with three.