A journalist from Somalia’s private radio station Radio Shabelle receieved serious wounds on Sunday by unidentified gunmen as he left a mosque after evening prayers.
He had received several gun shot, “at least four bullets hit him in the abdomen and chest”, says Mohamed Ali, a relative of the victim. “We don’t know why they have targeted him…he is a journalist and did not harm anybody”, he added. According to one of his colleague, he was immediately rushed to hospital after the incident and underwent surgery. Adan Mohamed, a colleague, said Turyare’s condition had improved following the surgery.
Report says Mohamed Mohamud Turyare is the fifth journalist from Radio Shabelle to be attacked this year. The city of mogadishu has been rocked by a string of attacks targeting journalists. Some of the attacks may be linked to power struggles within the many factions in power. Reporters without Borders have condemned the killings warning that “2012 could become the deadliest year of for media personnel in Somalia”.
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.