The foreign policy chief of the European Union (EU) Catherine Ashton on Wednesday strongly condemned an attack in Syria's central province of Homs which killed nine people including French journalist Gilles Jacquier.

Ashton expressed her condolences in a statement to the family of Jacquier, who works for the French television channel France 2, and the families of all the victims in the Homs attack.

"The Syrian authorities have a responsibility to guarantee the safety of journalists in their country," Ashton said, "The press must be allowed to carry out its vital role of providing independent information on events in Syria without fear of violence or repression."

A total of nine people were killed on Wednesday afternoon and dozens of others wounded after a group of unidentified gunmen fired against a crowd in Syria's central province of Homs.

Ashton called for an immediate end to violence in Syria, and expressed her concerns on the recent escalation of violence in the country. She also called for a rapid investigation to clarify the circumstances leading to Wednesday's tragedy.

The Syrian Information Ministry expressed on late Wednesday its deep grief and regret over the deadly attack. It condemned the incident, saying that the attack came in the context of the terrorist attempts to cover the true picture of what is happening in Syria, according to the official SANA news agency.