The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) condemns the twin car bomb explosions in Mogadishu today, which claimed the life of M24 TV journalist Mohamed Isse Hassan and severely injured two other journalists and a camera assistant.
Journalist Mohamed Isse Hassan, nicknamed Kona, was killed Saturday in a double car bombing as he, two other journalists and a camera assistant rushed from their offices to investigate a blast at the nearby building accommodating the Ministry of Education, Culture and Higher Education at the KM5 Junction in Mogadishu. The second bomb was then set off after eye witnesses including the journalists, had gathered at the scene of the first blast.
While Hassan died on the spot, his other colleagues, Feisal Omar Hashi, a stringer for Reuters, Abdulkadir Mohamed Abdulle for VOA Somali and M24 TV and Bile Abdisalan Ahmed, a camera assistant for Hashi, escaped with grave injuries. The journalists fell victim to the second blast which also killed and wounded several other innocent people.
“It is with a heavy heart that we again have to witness the violent death of yet another journalist in the space of just 30 calendar days,” said NUSOJ Secretary General Omar Faruk Osman. “We condemn this outrageous and cowardly attack in which all the victims are innocent people including journalists who went the scene to report on what happened.”
Mohamed Isse Hassan was an industrious and courageous reporter who has worked for several media houses both radio and television in Mogadishu. He is survived by wife and a son, and is the second journalist to be killed in Somalia in this year.
His death comes after the September 30,2022, demise of Somali National Television’s Ahmed Mohamed Shukur’s death, who was killed in a landmine blast as he covered counterterrorism operations against Al Shabab militants by the Somali National Army in Basro, Bal’ad district.
“We extend our sympathies to Mohamed Isse Hassan’s immediate family and pray for Feisal Omar Hashi, Abdukadir Mohamed Abdulle and Bile Abdisalan Ahmed’s recovery and healing. Impunity should not go unpunished and the security agencies should work to ensure that there is no repeat of this grisly attack,” Osman said.