The Dutch Jesuit, Frans van der Lugt, was assassinated

The Dutch Jesuit, Frans van der Lugt, hailed as "a man of peace" by the Vatican, was killed on Monday outside his house in the old part of Homs, where he remained despite the hunger and the Syrian army shelling.

Van der Lugt, age 75, who was a resident of Syria since 1966, was executed with cold blood by an unknown person, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an NGO based in the UK.

The Dutch Jesuit Order Secretary, Jan Stuyt, confirmed to AFP that the priest was "assassinated" on Monday morning. "A man came to look for him, took him out of the house and fired two bullets in the head in the street in front of the house," he said.

Despite the extremely difficult living conditions, the priest chose to stay in the old town of Homs, a sector under the control of rebels and besieged and bombarded for nearly two years by the Bashar al-Assad's forces.

"A man of peace died who, with great courage, wanted to remain faithful, in a highly risky and difficult situation, to the Syrian people, to which he gave a lot of time from his spiritual life and health," said a Vatican spokesman to the AFP.

The reason of the murder is unknown.