Mohd, 39, a veteran cameraman for the national Malaysian
broadcaster Bernama TV, was struck by gunfire while covering a humanitarian aid
mission in Mogadishu,
Bernama TV said in a statement. Witnesses reported that African
Union peacekeeping forces had fired on the Malaysian aid convoy, which was
organized by the Putera 1Malaysia Club, as it was traveling to
its base at the Mogadishu
airport, news reports said.
Calling the shooting “deeply regrettable,” the African
Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) said it would undertake an investigation. On September 26, AMISOM announced that four
AU soldiers from Burundi were responsible for the death and had been suspended.
In a three-paragraph statement, AMISOM characterized the killing as “accidental” but
did not specify the soldiers’ actions or describe their level of culpability. AMISOM
said it “recommended” that Burundian authorities bring the four soldiers to
trial “according to their country’s military and judicial processes.”
Mohd had covered earlier aid missions to Gaza and Pakistan,
his father told Bernama TV. The journalist is survived by a wife and two sons,
the younger just 3 years old. Aji Saregar, 27, a cameraman for
Malaysia’s TV3 who was also accompanying the convoy, was
wounded in the right hand in the gunfire. Both journalists had planned to
return to Malaysia
the following day, Bernama TV reported.