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In Somalia,
reporter killed in vehicle ambush
young reporter returning from a journalism training
workshop in the Somali capital of Mogadishu
was shot dead today in southwestern Somalia
when clan militiamen ambushed his vehicle, according to
the National Union of Somali Journalists.
Abdulkadir Mahad Moallim Kaskey, a
correspondent of the private, Mogadishu-based station
Radio Banadir, was the only passenger killed when the
truck he was in was shot at by gunmen.
About 15 people in the Toyota pickup were
traveling north of the southwestern commercial city of
Bardera, in Gedo province, local journalist Mohamed
Gaarane told CPJ.
Kaskey died of a single bullet to the chest in the
midnight incident, which left at least two other
passengers wounded, Gaarane said.
“We mourn the death of Abdulkadir Mahad Moallim Kaskey
and extend our condolences to his family and
colleague,” CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said.
In the absence of a strong central
government, gunmen linked to local clans clashing over
land frequently set up roadblocks to extract money from
vehicles in the area, according to local journalists.
Today, officials of the local
Geledle sub-clan, which the gunmen allegedly belonged
to, said they would hand over the perpetrators to
provincial authorities after hundreds of people attended
Kaskey’s funeral.
Kaskey, 20, was an active young
reporter respected by his colleagues, according to Radio
Banadir program producer Ali Moalim.
A day before his death, he had visited the offices of
the press union in Mogadishu
to discuss working conditions of journalists in
southwestern Somalia.
He was also a correspondent of Radio Maandeeq in Gedo
and Radio Daljir in the northeastern semi-autonomous
region of Puntland, according to local media reports.
Kaskey was the seventh journalist
killed in Somalia
this year and the third journalist killed within two
weeks after the assassinations
of two prominent broadcasters in Mogadishu,
according to CPJ research. Only Iraq has seen more
journalists killed this year
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