Radio reporter shot dead in Mogadishu

Reporters Without Borders is horrified by the murder of Mohamud Mohamed Yusuf, a 22-year-old reporter with the private news station Radio Holy Quran, in Mogadishu yesterday (4 July). His killers left him dying by the roadside for three hours and fired at anyone who tried to help him. "The chaos reigning in Mogadishu and the barbarity of some armed groups make Somali journalists extremely vulnerable", the organisation said. "With six journalists killed since the start of 2009, Somalia is by far the most dangerous country for the media. "We call on everyone concerned to respect the Geneva Conventions, which protect civilians, including journalists, in conflict zones." Gunmen fired at Yusuf as he was on his way to report on fighting in the capital, wounding him in the stomach. The editor of the privately-owned station, questioned by the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ), said the shooting took place at the Afarta Jardin crossroads in northern Mogadishu. Yusuf, who both presented and produced programmes for the station, had just read the 7.30am news. Yusuf, who was known as Ninile, is the second journalist from Radio Holy Quran to be killed in Somalia this year. His colleague Nur Muse Hussein was shot while covering clashes in Beledweyn, north of the capital, in April and died of his injuries a month later.