NEW DELHI, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- A journalist working with a vernacular daily was shot dead in India's eastern state of Bihar, officials said Wednesday.

The killing took place at at Salakhni village in Samastipur district, about 86 km east of Patna, the capital city of Bihar.

"Eyewitnesses told us last evening some unidentified men fired indiscriminately at Braj Kumar Singh when he was talking to some laborers at a brick kiln, just outside his house," a police official said, adding "Singh was correspondent of a Hindi daily."

Following the attack, the assailants escaped from the spot, eyewitness told the media.

Locals said though Singh was sent to hospital, doctors declared him brought dead.

"Singh was hit in chest, abdomen and head," the police official said.

Last month, a journalist working with a vernacular daily was shot dead in Rohtash district.

In May, gunmen killed Rajdeo Ranjan, the bureau head of another Hindi-language daily Hindustan in district Siwan of the state.

In 2015, nine journalists were killed in India, according to Reporters Without Borders.

India is becoming a "more dangerous place to practice journalism," said the New York-based committee to protect journalists.