Somalia journalist dies following shelling


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A Somali reporter shot by unknown gunmen last week has died from his wounds, colleagues said Monday.

Mohamed Mohamud Turyare, who was shot as he left a mosque in the anarchic capital Mogadishu on October 21, is the fifth journalist from the independent Shabelle radio and television station to be attacked this year. This last attacked has taken the toll of journalists killed this year in the war ravaged country to 17. Report say Turyare had died in hospital last night, even though his health condition was not that bad until yesterday afternoon, when he suddenly worse. Mohamed Bashir colleague to the decease said there were plans to evacuate him for medical treatment outside Somalia, but tragically he left us too soon, like the other friends that we lost before him. “Turyare is no more, but we wait desperately for the time when those who kill innocent journalists face justice,” said Adan Molaim, a relative.

2012 in Somalia has been called by Press rights watchdog Reporters without Borders (RSF) “deadliest year” with a record surpassing 2009 when nine died journalist lost their lives. Several killings that have occurred are blamed on al-Qaeda linked Shabaab insurgents, but other murders are also believed to be linked to struggles within the multiple factions in power. Last month, One Somali journalist was shot dead by gunmen on Friday while a second journalist was beheaded and his body dumped in the street, officials and residents said two attacks that bring the number of Somali journalists killed this year to 15. Also three journalists were killed when a suicide bomber detonated explosives in a cafe popular with journalists and politicians. The day after that attack gunmen shot and killed another journalist.

No group has claimed responsibility for the latest killings, but the deaths fit into a year-long pattern of targeted attacks against Somali journalists. Most of the killings have taken place in areas of Mogadishu nominally under the Somali government’s control. Despite government promises of prosecutions, no arrests have yet been made for any of the killings in 2012.

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