Gunmen shoot another Somali journalist

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – The New York-based press freedom body, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), has said that two unidentified gunmen shot a Somali journalist, Abdulkadir Omar Abdulle, PANA reports from here Tuesday.

The CPJ said in a communique that Abdulkadir, who works  for Universal TV as a reporter and anchor, was shot on Saturday evening near his home in the southern Wadajir district of the capital, Mogadishu, but he survived the attack.

Quoting some local news sources and journalists, CPJ further explained that an eyewitnesses spotted two men removing pistols from their waists and warned Abdulkadir before the two gunmen shot him four times in the stomach and leg.

Meanwhile, the journalist was said to have  managed to run inside his house while the two gunmen reportedly fled the scene. Abdulkadir is recovering at the Madina Hospital, local journalists told CPJ.

"Journalists working in Mogadishu continue to pay a terrible price for doing their jobs," said CPJ East Africa Consultant, Tom Rhodes.

"Authorities can demonstrate that conditions are truly improving in the capital by apprehending the assailants who shot Abdulkadir Omar Abdulle," Rhodes said.

Local journalists suspect that Abdulkadir may have been targeted by Al-Shabaab insurgents for his political reporting on Mogadishu, particularly his emphasis on the improving security conditions.

The government and African Union troops managed to push Al-Shabaab forces out of the capital last year.

Somalia's Information Minister, Abdulkadir Hussein has condemned the shooting and called for an investigation, urging the citizens to help.

"The public should not allow the criminal groups to intimidate them with such cowardly acts and should support the ongoing security operations," the government stated.

Members of the public in Mogadishu are often reluctant to bring evidence forward in such cases, fearing retribution, Abdirahman Omar Osman, senior adviser to the prime minister, told CPJ.

According to CPJ, Somali radio journalist Mohamed Nur Mohamed also survived a shooting in Mogadishu last month but six journalists have been killed in Somalia this year, with half of the murders in Mogadishu.
-0- PANA MLJ/VAO 10July2012