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Malaysian TV cameraman killed in Mogadishu

02 September 2011 22:58 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. A Malaysian TV journalist on Friday was shot dead by unknown gunmen in the Somali capital Mogadishu, witnesses and local media reports said, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

The journalist said to be a cameraman working with a TV station based in Malaysia was hit by a bullet fired at his car which was accompanying an aid convoy by a charity from the Asian nation to camps for people displaced by the drought in southern Somalia, local radio stations reported.

Dozens of foreign journalists and aid workers from Malaysia and other countries have lately been in the Somali capital Mogadishu as part of the humanitarian efforts to help drought displaced people in the capital.

Reports indicate that the Malaysian journalist may have been hit by bullets fired by Islamist rebel group of Al Shabaab who have recently retreated from their strongholds in the capital.

Somali government officials said it will launch full investigation into the killing of the Malaysian journalist.

Somalia is currently suffering severe drought and famine which threatens nearly half of the country’s population.

Several nations and international humanitarian agencies have so far sent in relief and aid workers to the capital Mogadishu while dozens of media agencies have been covering the growing food crisis in the horn of African nation.

Islamist group of Al Shabaab have bee known to target foreigners in the war the east African country. The group refused aid agencies from operating in areas it controls in the drought- stricken southern Somalia.