Gunmen kill journo in Somalia

2005-06-06 13:56

Mogadishu - A Somali broadcast journalist was killed at the weekend when gunmen opened fire at the vehicle in which she was travelling near the Somali capital Mogadishu, officials said on Monday.

HornAfrik media said Duniya Muhiyadin Nur, who was on assignment, was killed on Sunday when gunmen manning a checkpoint at a trading post opened fire on the vehicle near the town of Afgoi, about 30km from Mogadishu.

She died instantly, according to her colleagues at HornAfrik Radio and TV station.

Officials said Nur had gone to the area to cover a demonstration against such checkpoints, at which protestors blocked the road from Mogadishu to Afgoi to pressure militiamen to stop levying forced taxes from motorists.

Her colleagues said the gunmen had been targeting the driver, who had taken part in the protest.

Last month, a gunman shot and wounded another HornAfrik journalist, Abdallah Nurdin Ahmad, in southern Mogadishu.

In February, gunmen shot dead a BBC journalist outside her Mogadishu hotel while she was covering the planned relocation from exile of the Somali transitional government, in what many believe was an attempt to deter the move.

Bullet-scarred Mogadishu, like the rest of Somalia, has been in the hands of feuding warlords since it was plunged into anarchy after the 1991 ouster of strongman Mohammed Siad Barre.

- AFP