BEIRUT: A Canadian freelance photographer was killed in the Syrian city of Aleppo on Sunday after a crude bomb exploded near where he and firefighters were standing.

Ali Moustafa, who was born in Toronto of Pakistani and Portuguese immigrant parents, was killed alongside seven other people after government aircraft dropped two explosive-laden containers in the rebel-held Hadariyeh area, an activist, Abu Al Hassan Marea, said.

Mr Moustafa’s sister Justina Rosa Botelho confirmed her 29-year-old brother’s death after activists sent her a photograph of his corpse.

“He just wanted the world to know about human rights and all the horrible things going on down there,” Ms Botelho said. “He was passionate for the world to know.”

The family was not aware that he was in Syria. They were last in contact a week ago, when Moustafa told her that he was in Turkey, she said.

“He wanted to tell mom he was okay,” she said. “He never told me he was in Syria. I guess he was trying to hide that.”

Mr Marea said a military helicopter dropped a barrel bomb on the Hadariyeh area. After bystanders and reporters gathered to see what happened, another barrel bomb was dropped, mortally wounding Mr Moustafa.

In an interview in July last year, Mr Moustafa told a reporter that he first went to Syria in March 2013 after travelling to Israel, the Palestinian Territories and Egypt.

“I felt it was important to go there to cover the war first-hand,” he had said. “In a way, I’m also fascinated by war not in the gory sense but in the way it impacts us as human beings.

What does it take away? What does it leave behind? Most importantly, what does it transform us into?” he said.—AP