A Turkish journalist attend a demonstration against the killings of journalists in Syria, in front of the Syrian Embassy in Ankara
Syrian activists say they have buried the bodies of foreign journalists Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik in Homs. Reuters

The bodies of two Western journalists who were killed in Homs have been buried in Syria, according to videos posted by activists.

The videos show Dr Mohammed Ahmed al-Mohammed, who has already appeared in footage with a wounded French journalist trapped in Homs, saying activists had decided to bury Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik because power cuts prevented refrigeration of the bodies.

In one video, Mohammed praises the work of the journalists who sneaked into Syria to cover the 11-month uprising which has killed more than 7,000 people.

"Marie Colvin was martyred in Baba Amr because she was sending a heavenly message, a humanitarian message," Mohammed says in the video.

"She was telling the truth about what is happening in Baba Amr. May God be merciful to you, Marie, as we bury you in this garden."

The video shows a body wrapped in white cloth bearing a note that reads "Marie Colvin" in English. Mohammed then opens the fabric to reveal the badly burned face of a person that cannot be recognised.

Mohammed goes on to criticise the US for not stopping the bloodshed or intervening to stop the shelling of Homs. He accuses the US of being in an "alliance" with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

In another video Mohammed praises the work of French journalist Remi Ochlik, killed alongside Colvin. The face is covered with red wounds around the mouth and nose.

"He will remain eternally in our minds because he sent the true voice, the true picture and the true reality of what is happening here," Mohammed says.

The videos could not been independently verified.

In a further twist, the Syrian government said on Thursday that it had recovered the bodies of three Western journalists thought to be Colvin, Ochlik and Javier Espinoza, a Spanish reporter trapped in Homs.

Sana, the state news agency, said the Red Crescent had been unable to recover the bodies because armed terrorist groups had refused to release them but that the corpses would now "be transferred into a Damascus hospital for forensic DNA analysis, to be compared with the DNA to be received from their respective countries, before being handed over".

Since that statement, Espinoza has appeared on CNN and gave an interview from Beirut.

Poland