Somali journalist shot by gunmen in Mogadishu
Two gunmen shot Farhan Suleiman Dahir in the Hodan district of the capital on Friday evening as he was returning home from work, according to news reports and four local journalists who spoke to CPJ. The assailants fled the scene before police arrived, the same sources said.
Farhan was taken to a local hospital where he is receiving treatment for injuries to his arms, chest, back, and head, local journalists who visited him in the hospital told CPJ. Doctors removed a bullet from the journalist’s skull and another from his kidney. He is in critical condition, the sources said.
Farhan, a photographer for the websites of Radio Mogadishu and the state-run Somali National Television, often traveled with military convoys to cover clashes between government troops and Al-Shabaab militants, the local journalists said. They told CPJ they suspected that Al-Shabaab militants had targeted Farhan because he worked for state-run media. The journalists said they did not know if Farhan had received any threats before the attack.
Image: REUTERS/Feisal Omar