Photographer and video journalist Mohamed Ben Khalifa was killed on Saturday by a stray shell south of Tripoli while on the job.

Ben Khalifa died while accompanying a militia patrolling the Qaser Bin Ghashir area south of Tripoli, according to Hamza Turkia, a freelance journalist.

The 35 year old photographer was also a freelance journalist who had contributed to the Associated Press news agency among other news organisations.

Condolences for his death came from around the journalism community in Libya, where he was known as one of its leading photographers.

#Libya-n journalists continue to pay the ultimate price for merely doing the necessary work of journalism. Mohamed Ben Khalifa, a photographer and video journalist, was killed yesterday in #Tripoli’s Qasr bin Ghashir after being hit by shrapnel. pic.twitter.com/iIfQ4R6ipP — The Libya Times (@thelibyatimes) 20 gennaio 2019

A new round of fighting between rival militias erupted earlier this week, killing 13 people and wounding more than 50, according to the Libyan Health Ministry.

The clashes breach a shaky ceasefire brokered by the United Nations in September

Colleagues of Ben Khalifa cited his awards and exhibitions.

For those who do not know Mohamed Ben Khalifa

He is a photographer for the AP in TripoliHe is one of the leading photographers in Libya since 2014,

He has won many awards and participated in many competitions and international exhibitions my best friend 😔 pic.twitter.com/H5PbxY6yCG — abdullh.oshah (@AbdallhOshah) 19 gennaio 2019

Mohamed Ben Khalifa, a freelance photographer who works for the @AP, was killed by a random shelling in clashes between rival militias in #Libya's 🇱🇾 capital #Tripoli



RIP young man https://t.co/5EQsmWJWZm pic.twitter.com/ITfggYqT8d — SaadAbedine (@SaadAbedine) 19 gennaio 2019

The fighting between militias allied with Libya's UN-backed government in Tripoli and an armed group from a nearby town underscores Libya's lingering lawlessness since the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi.