Somali journalist killed in car bomb
Somali army soldiers walk next to the Somali parliament in Mogadishu after an attack, on May 24, 2014. Gunmen attacked two members of the federal parliament of Somalia in Hamarweyne District in central Mogadishu Thursday morning.. PHOTO/AFP
What you need to know:
- The bomb, which was remotely detonated, exploded around 7.40am, according to Mustafa Yasin, the owner of Mustaqbal Radio.
- No group has claimed responsibility but Mogadishu has been hit by a string of attacks by Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab militants who are fighting to overthrow the war-torn country’s fragile internationally-backed government.
A Somali journalist, Yusuf Ahmed Abukar, alias Kaynan, was killed in a car-bomb attack in Mogadishu on Saturday.
The blast occurred in the Hamarweyne district in the city centre.
Initial investigations indicated that the bomb was under the driver’s seat.
Abukar worked for Mustaqbal Radio, a private Mogadishu FM station, and also contributed to the UN humanitarian radio Ergo, based in Nairobi, Kenya.
The bomb, which was remotely detonated, exploded around 7:40am, according to Mustafa Yasin, the owner of Mustaqbal Radio.
Somali security forces sealed off the area to investigate the incident.
No group has claimed responsibility, but Mogadishu has been hit by a string of attacks by Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab militants who are fighting to overthrow the war-torn country’s fragile internationally backed government.
On Wednesday, a student doctor was killed and seven others wounded in a bombing at Keysansey hospital in northern Mogadishu run by the Somali Red Crescent Society with support from the International Committee of the Red Cross. That attack also involved a bomb attached to a car.
The National Union of Somali Journalists (Nusoj) called for prompt investigations into the matter.
“Nusoj is deeply shocked and condemns the senseless murder of the Somali humanitarian journalist,” the group said in a statement.
Abukar was among the winners of the 2013 Somali Media Awards organised by Nusoj and the United Nations.
The Committee to Protect Journalists says 52 journalists were killed in Somalia between 1992 and 2013. In 2012 alone, 18 journalists and media personnel were killed in Somalia, most of them in Mogadishu.
Additional reporting by AFP
