Fifty-three journalists died worldwide according to statistics from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), making 2018 the worst year for journalists in the last three years.

The report by New York based CPJ dated December 19, shows 34 journalists were targeted for murder in reprisal for their work. At least three of the journalists who died during the year were female.

The death of journalists this year is almost double the number killed in 2017.

The report noted that in 2018, journalists were either murdered, died in crossfire or died while carrying out a dangerous assignment.

The war-riddled Afghanistan was singled out as the deadliest country because extremists have stepped up deliberate attacks on journalists. Afghanistan is closely followed by Syria and India.

During the year under review no journalist died in Uganda last year, however, CPJ records show that at least two journalists have been killed in Uganda since 1992.

CPJ’s sub-Saharan representative Muthoni Mumo said though only two journalists were killed in Africa last year, there is concern because Somalia has the highest level of impunity index in the world.

One Journalist was murdered in Somalia and another in Central African Republic.

The report classified the October murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Kashoggi as a high-profile murder.

Kashoggi was killed by Saudi agents in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.