Somalia: Journalists Injured after Attack on Radio Stations in Galka’yo
Galka’yo, (RBC Radio) Reports from Galka’yo town, capital of Mudug in the central Somalia say that unknown assailants have attacked three independent Somali radio stations operating in the town, wounding three persons and causing damage to the radio station buildings.
RBC Radio correspondent in the town, Awil Mahmoud says the wounded people include two local journalists while two of the stations attacked suffer heavy damage to their buildings.
The wounded journalists, Mohammed Isse Mahmoud and Abdulkadir Ali who were operating in Radio Voice of Mudug have been put in the hospital for treatment after they were injured on the attack which the assailants used hand grenades thrown to the inner side of their radio station which lies on the southern part of the town.
“unidentified assailants have thrown hand grenades to the three radio stations, which are Radio Galka’yo, Radio Voice of Mudug and Radio Hobyo within minutes”, Hassan Mohamed Jama (jidka), the director of Radio Galka’yo said.
“We could not understand why we have been targeted, we always report any event in the town or the whole country and we always keep to be impartial in our news reporting”, the director of Radio Galka’yo has added.
Liban Isse Omar, a local journalist operating in the Radio Voice of Mudug told RBC Radio that the attack was the first one which was targeted on three radio stations in the town at once and seems to be well coordinated.
The Puntland and Galmudug administrations who dominate separately the northern and southern part of Galka’yo have said they were on investigation about this attack while still no one was arrested.
There is no any group who claimed the responsibility of the attack as the aim of the attack is unclear.
Galkayo, provincial capital of Mudug region, was a relatively peaceful but has lately been deteriorating situation since the killing of Puntland’s minister of information late last year and such attack on radio stations may harm the work of independent journalists operating in the area.
Somalia is considered as worst place for journalists to work after Iraq in the last three years.
RBC Radio