Somali journo shot, wounded

2005-05-27 13:27

Mogadishu - A veteran Somali journalist was shot and wounded in the capital Mogadishu by unknown gunmen, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said in a statement on Friday.

Abdallah Nurdin Ahmad, a producer for HornAfrik radio and TV station, was shot at close range on Tuesday night in the southern part of the lawless capital, the statement said.

It said Ahmad had undergone surgery in Mogadihsu's Medina Hospital, but said relatives he was due to be transferred to the Kenyan capital Nairobi on Friday for advanced treatment.

Sources quoted by the CPJ differed on the motives for the attack, which took place at a snack bar owned by Ahmad and could have been linked to the business.

The Somali Press Freedom Violation Monitors group for its part said Ahmad was thought to have been shot for his radio station work and HornAfrik journalists and staff had been targeted before, the CPJ statement said.

Ali Iman Sharmake, HornAfrik's co-manager, was quoted as describing Nurdin as the "godfather of Somali journalists", a well-known playwright and songwriter.

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