Mogadishu: At least five people including two children were killed on Monday in a vehicle bomb blast outside government offices in the capital Mogadishu, a local government spokesman said.
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“I saw several people, some of them dead, and among them were two children”, said local resident Muhsin Abdirahman.
The al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab was pushed out of Mogadishu by African Union peacekeeping forces in 2011 but has remained a potent antagonist in Somalia, launching frequent attacks in its bid to overthrow the Western-backed government.
According to CPJ’s research, journalists working for Somali state-run media outlets are frequently threatened or targeted by militants in the area.
“Today, the court fulfils the execution of Hassan Hanafi who had killed journalists”, Abdullahi Hassan, deputy judge of the court, told reporters at the scene. He was arrested in neighbouring Kenya past year and then returned to Somalia for trial.
Farah Abdi Warsameh/AP Hassan Hanafi Haji is tied to a wooden post as he is prepared to be executed by firing squad.
Hassan Hanafi Haji was executed by firing squad at the Mogadishu police academy after being extradited from Kenya.
Since 2007, more than 25 journalists have been killed in Somalia, arguably one of the world’s most unsafe and failed states.
At least 18 Somali journalists were killed past year and 59 journalists have been killed since 1992, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Al-Shabab has been waging an insurgency in the country for about 10 years.
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Somali authorities are eager to prosecute al-Shabab sympathizers, and Hanafi has admitted to killing only one journalist, although it is widely understood he helped fellow militants carry out other murders.
