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Soldiers in Mogadishu after a suicide attack on a convoy (archive photo)
Photo: Farah Abdi Warsameh / dpa
A well-known Somali investigative journalist was killed in a suicide bombing in Mogadishu on Saturday. Abdiaziz Mohamud Gulled, commonly known as Abdiaziz Afrika, was the director of the state broadcaster Radio Mogadishu. He reported on the Islamist Shabaab militia and had been the target of attacks in the past. At least two other people were injured, including another well-known journalist, police reported. The radical Islamic terrorist militia Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Islamist terrorist group, which seeks to overthrow the government and enforce its own strict interpretation of Islamic law, frequently carries out bomb attacks. The murdered journalist had mainly researched terrorism in the country in the Horn of Africa. His cousin Abdullahi Nur told Reuters news agency: "My cousin Abdiaziz was killed by a suicide bomber immediately after he went to a restaurant ... he died when he was hospitalized."
Serious attacks and armed clashes with suspected Al-Shabaab fighters repeatedly occur in Somalia and the capital Mogadishu.
The targets of the attacks are security forces and government institutions, but also hotels, markets and other public institutions.
The country has been considered one of the particularly dangerous for journalists for years.
jso / dpa / Reuters
