"Our photographer Anas Alkharboutli, who documented the civil war in Syria in a unique visual language, has been killed in an air strike near the Syrian city of Hama. Anas was just 32 years old," DPA said in a statement.

"All of us at DPA are in shock and deeply saddened by the death of Anas Alkharboutli," editor-in-chief Sven Goesmann said in the statement.

"With his pictures, he not only documented the horrors of war, but always worked for the truth. Anas remains a role model for our work," he added.

Islamist-led rebels last week launched a massive offensive in northern Syria, taking second city Aleppo from government control and advancing on the central city of Hama, with fierce clashes reported between the fighters and the army.

Ali Haj Sleiman, a journalist who was with Alkharboutli, told AFP that they had seen aircraft overhead in the Morek area near Hama, where they and other colleagues had regrouped.

"We heard a very loud noise and started running, then the blast threw me to the ground," he said.

After the strike, "I found Anas lying in his own blood... He had lost both his legs... He died in the ambulance before arriving at the hospital."

Alkharboutli began working as a photojournalist in 2015 and joined DPA two years later, the agency said.

He received the Young Reporter Trophy of France's prestigious Bayeux Award for war reporting in 2020, and won the sports category for the 2021 Sony World Photography Awards.

He was laid to rest in the rebel-held northwestern city of Idlib.

Authorities in the rebel enclave say three other journalists from the area have been killed since the offensive began last week.

War monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Wednesday the death toll in eight days of fighting had risen to 704, including 110 civilians.