"We extend our condolences to the family and colleagues of Jamal al-Sharaabi, who was killed ... as he performed his professional duties," said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, Committee to Protect Journalists' Middle East and North Africa program coordinator said Friday.

Sharaabi, who worked for the independent weekly Al-Masdar, was shot in a sniper attack that killed at least 52 people at a Sanaa rally against Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

CPJ reported it as the first "confirmed media fatality" since unrest erupted in January.

Reporters Without Borders said "it is shocking that this photographer paid with his life for trying to keep his fellow-citizens informed."

The 35-year-old father of four was the fourth journalist to be killed during the wave of protests that has been rocking the Arab world since December, Reporters without Borders said.

The Yemeni Journalists' Syndicate has reported more than 50 separate attacks -- including abductions, assaults, confiscation of equipment and threats of violent reprisals -- on journalists since political unrest erupted in January.

The BBC reported that one of its photojournalists was among the hundreds of civilians wounded by security forces at the Friday demonstration outside Sanaa University.