FILE - In this Friday, May 27, 2011, file photo, journalist James Foley poses for a photo during an interview with The Associated Press in Boston. A memorial service is scheduled Saturday, Oct. 18, 2014, in Foley's hometown of Rochester, N.H., on what would have been his 41st birthday. Foley was abducted in Syria on Thanksgiving Day 2012, and a video by Islamic State militants that purported to show his killing by the militant group was released Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2014. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

NEW YORK -– The horrific deaths of James Foley and Steven Sotloff in Syria brought worldwide attention to the dangers journalists face in war zones. The beheadings reflected an alarming trend in 2014 in which international journalists were increasingly targeted and killed.

There were at least 60 journalists killed globally in connection to their work in 2014, according to an annual report from the Committee to Protect Journalists, an organization that advocates for press freedom around the world. The latest death was Afghan cameraman Zubair Hatami, who died Saturday from injuries he sustained in a Taliban attack.

Committee to Protect Journalists is still investigating whether the deaths of 18 journalists were related to their work. Reporters Without Borders recently cited 66 journalist killings in its 2014 survey. The difference likely results from each organization's methodology and the ongoing investigation of some cases.

Syria, mired in civil war since 2011, ranked as the most dangerous country for journalists for the third year in a row. Seventeen journalists were killed in the war-torn country this year, bringing the total to 79 in the conflict.

The organization found four journalists and three media workers killed covering the war in Gaza, five journalists in Iraq, and five journalists and two media workers in Ukraine.

While this year’s overall toll is down from the 70 killed in 2013, the Committee to Protect Journalists found that international journalists were more frequently targeted this year than in the past.

“Reflecting in part the increasingly volatile nature of conflict zones in which Westerners are often deliberately targeted, about one quarter of the journalists killed this year were members of the international press, about double the proportion CPJ has documented in recent years,” the report concluded. “Over time, according to CPJ research, about nine out of every 10 journalists killed are local people covering local stories.”