An American journalist was killed Saturday in the country of South Sudan during fighting between rebel and government forces, according to multiple news reports.

Reuters reported Saturday that Christopher Allen, 26, was killed Saturday along with 18 others during fighting between government troops and rebels in Yei River state. Both sides claimed that fighting was initiated by the other side, and neither side took credit for killing Allen, who was wearing a jacket marked "PRESS."

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Allen was a freelance journalist who has worked for several U.S. news outlets. He had been embedded with rebels in Sudan for a week before he was killed.

According to Philly.com, Allen was also one of the first journalists on the scene of the Malaysian Airlines flight downed in Ukraine by Russia-linked rebels in 2014.

“On the ground, about 16 (bodies) have been found around the defensive position of the SPLA including this white man,” Santo Domic Chol, a military spokesman, told Reuters. Rebels in the area told the news service that Allen was there to "tell our story."

“We are sad for his family. He came here to tell our story," one rebel told Reuters.

A friend of Allen's family described the young reporter as someone with a passion for telling the stories of those afflicted by war.

“He had a passion for telling the stories of people touched by war,” Pat Hughes said. “He went to South Sudan for the same reason all good journalists go to trouble spots: to get the story and to bring that story to the world’s attention.”

South Sudan, which declared independence from Sudan in 2011, descended into civil war in 2013 among ethnic lines. More than 300,000 are believed to have died in the fighting.