Abdiaziz Mohamud Guled, a well-known Somali journalist, was assassinated in Mogadishu by an Al-Shabaab suicide bomber.
Guled, a Radio Mogadishu director also known as Abdiaziz Afrika, was killed in a blast on Saturday, November 21 as he was leaving a restaurant.
Several other persons were injured in the attack, including the director of Somali National Television and a driver.
“He came out of the restaurant and went into his car with a colleague after they had dinner and the suicide bomber ran onto the car window and detonated himself,” said another colleague Ali Mohamed.
“My cousin Abdiaziz was killed by a suicide bomber immediately after he went out to a restaurant … He died as he was rushed to hospital. He always shone a big light on al-Shabab, may God rest his soul.” his cousin, Abdullahi Nur, told Reuters news agency.
The professional journalist, who was a vocal critic of the Islamist armed group, was well-known for his conversations with detainees, and his broadcasts drew enormous crowds.
Police have established that the incident was caused by a suicide bomber, according to government official Ismael Mukhtar Omar, an ex-colleague of Abdiaziz.
Somalia’s Deputy Information Minister, Abdirahman Yusuf Omar, said in a statement that the country had lost a “brave man.”
Mohamed Hussein Roble, the Somali Prime Minister, expressed his condolences to Guled’s family.
“Abdiaziz was a hardworking journalist and national hero who worked for his country, his people and his religion with courage and relentlessness,” he said.
Al-Shabaab targeted the journalist for “committing crimes against Islam” while claiming responsibility for the attack.
“The mujahideen had been hunting Abdiaziz for a long time. He committed crimes against Islam, he was involved in the killing of mujahideens,” Abdiasis Abu Musab, al-Shabab military operation spokesperson, told Reuters.
The journalist was laid to rest today.
Source; Ghgossip.com
