REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, PARIS -- At least 110 journalists around the world were killed over the past year, according to a new report that warns of the increasingly deliberate use of violence against reporters. The study by the monitoring group Reporters Without Borders reported that at least 67 of the journalists were killed during or because of their work. A further 43 journalists were killed for unclear reasons.

"The motives or reasons for their deaths remain unclear because of the lack of thorough and impartial official investigations, the lack of good faith on the part of governments, or the difficulty of investigating in unstable or lawless regions," the report of Reporters Without Borders said, as cited in CNN.

France made an unusual appearance near the top of the list of the deadliest countries for journalists as a result of the Islamic terrorist attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in January. The eight journalists killed in that attack, described by the report as an unprecedented tragedy, put France third in the grim rankings for journalists killed in connection with their work.

The violence-plagued Middle Eastern countries Iraq and Syria share first place with nine deaths each, not including those killed for unclear reasons. Two other war-torn countries, Yemen and South Sudan, are also in the top five. But unlike in 2014, armed conflicts weren't the main cause of death for journalists this year.

"Two-thirds were killed in countries at peace," the report added.

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