Sagal Salad Osman, 24, was a producer and presenter for the state-run Radio Mogadishu and a university student. She was leaving her university campus in the Hodan neighborhood of Mogadishu when three gunmen shot her in the head and the chest, killing her, police Major Nur Ali told Reuters. The gunmen immediately fled the scene, according to news reports.
Sagal produced a children’s program for the radio station, according to a Somali journalist who spoke to CPJ on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, according to news reports, but Ali told Reuters that he believed Al-Shabaab were responsible. Militants have a history of targeting journalists for Radio Mogadishu and other state media, according to CPJ research. Women in public roles in particular have been targeted, the Strategic Initiative for women in the Horn of Africa found in a 2016 report.
CPJ was unable to determine if Sagal had received threats prior to the attack.