Somali journalist killed in Mogadishu by bomb planted in her car

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns the targeted killing of national radio and TV journalist Hindiya Mohamed in Mogadishu today. Mohamed, who worked for Radio Mogadishu and Somali National TV, was badly wounded by a bomb planted in her car and died from her injuries in Madina Hospital a few hours later. No organization has claimed the bombing but it had all the hallmarks of an operation by the Islamist rebel militia Al Shabaab. This group had already targeted journalists from the national media of the Somali State against which it is fighting. “We are appalled to learn of yet another journalist’s death in Somalia,” said Cléa Kahn-Sriber, the head of RSF’s Africa desk. “The government must do everything possible to arrest those responsible for such attacks and bring them to justice. The impunity reigning in Somalia just encourages murders of this kind. Our thoughts are with Hindiya Mohamed’s family,especially her children, which has already suffered so much.” Mohamed’s husband, Liban Ali Nur, a journalist who also worked for national television, was killed in a suicide bombing in September 2012 at The Village, a Mogadishu restaurant frequented by media personnel. The bombing was claimed by Al Shabaab at the time, which said it had intended to kill journalists. Mohamed is the 38th journalist to be killed in connection with their work in Somalia since 2010. Ranked 172nd out of 180 countries in the 2015 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index, Somalia is Africa’s deadliest country for media personnel.