Recent attacks on journalists in Somalia

Two top Somali journalists were killed on Saturday — one shot dead outside his office and the other when a landmine exploded as he returned from his colleague's funeral. Six journalists have been killed in Somalia in the past year. Here is a chronology of attacks on journalists in Somalia since a battle between Islamists and the government began in June 2006.

  • 2006:
    • June 1: Somali journalist Maryan Mohamud Qalanjo of Radio Shabelle is attacked in Baidoa by militias while covering the arrival of Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Gedi in the country. She was attacked again later that day in her hotel.
    • June 23: Gunman shoots dead Swedish television cameraman Martin Adler covering a pro-Islamist demonstration in Mogadishu.
    • August 4: Vehicle carrying members of the National Union of Somali Journalists is ambushed between Baidoa and Mogadishu, killing their driver Madey Garas and injuring a journalist.
  • 2007:
    • February 16: Ali Mohammed Omar, a presenter on Radio Warsan in Baidoa, is shot dead by three assailants who attacked him as he walked home.
    • April 21: HornAfrik media house is hit by seven shells, injuring four staff and forcing the station temporarily off the air.
    • May 5: Journalist Mohammed Abdullahi Khalif is killed in Puntland.
    • May 15: Journalists Abshir Ali Gabra and Ahmed Hassen are killed in the central Shabelle region.
    • August 10: Radio Mogadishu journalist Abdihakin Omar Jimale was wounded when two gunmen fired at him north of Mogadishu.
    • August 11: Gunmen shoot dead popular Somali HornAfrik radio journalist and talk show host Mahad Ahmed Elmi outside his station in Mogadishu in an apparent assassination.
    • August 11: HornAfrik media co-founder Ali Iman Sharmarke is killed by landmine while travelling in Mogadishu from a funeral of a murdered colleague. Reuters journalist Sahal Abdulle is injured.

(Sources: Reuters, Reporters sans Frontières, National Union of Somali Journalists)

Date Posted: 12 August 2007 Last Modified: 14 May 2025