News editor Abshir Ali Gabre and reporter Ahmed Hassan Mahad of Radio Jowhar, a private
station in Jowhar, 55 miles (90 kilometers) north of the capital,
Mogadishu, were gunned down when a provincial governor’s motorcade was
ambushed by gunmen from a rival sub-clan.
Gabre and Mahad
were riding in the first vehicle of the official convoy, a white pickup
truck carrying officials and armed security guards, according to
Station Director Saeed Ali Afrah. Gabre sustained gunshot wounds to his
neck and left hand, while Mahad was shot in the head and chest, he
said. The official was unharmed, but at least six people were killed
and several injured in the ensuing gun battle, according to the
independent station Radio Shabelle.
Gabre, 35 and the father
of one, was also the head of the Middle Shabelle branch of the National
Union of Somali Journalists and a stringer for the private Somali
Broadcasting Corp., according to Afrah.
Mahad, 24, had been
reporting for Radio Jowhar since its inception in October 2002. He was
survived by a wife and three children.