Mohamed Sahal Omar Bio

Mohamed Sahal Omar, who worked for the Puntland-based Somali Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), was shot dead while attempting to photograph the attackers inside the hotel, according to a statement by the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ).

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Mohamed Sahal Omar Death

‘The relatives of local journalist Mohamed Sahal confirmed his death and I’m getting that social media activist Hodan Naleyeh and her husband also died in the blast,’ another witness, Ahmed Farhan, said.

Another journalist, Mohamed Sahal Omar, was killed in the same attack. Somalia’s journalists are some of the bravest and most dedicated in the world and they have paid a huge price for it. According to the CPJ, 66 have been killed since 1992. https://t.co/S8HiNgcCjz pic.twitter.com/MyeloEDV3t — Barry Malone (@malonebarry) July 13, 2019

Islamist gunmen killed 26 people, including Kenyans, Americans, a Briton and Tanzanians, when they stormed a hotel in Somalia’s southern port city of Kismayo, a regional state president said on Saturday, the deadliest day in the city since insurgents were driven out in 2012.

A car bomb exploded at the hotel where local elders and lawmakers were having a meeting on Friday night, and then three gunmen stormed in, police said. It took 11 hours before security forces ended the overnight attack, police officer Major Mohamed Abdi told Reuters.

@sjs_Somalia mourns with colleagues and our member journalists in Kismayo who early this morning attended the burial of Mohamed Omar Sahal and Hodan Naleyeh. We convey our heartfelt sympathies to the both families,” @Cabdalleaxmed Secretary General of @sjs_Somalia said. pic.twitter.com/iuFyJp48eM — Somali Journalists Syndicate – SJS (@sjs_Somalia) July 13, 2019



The dead included a presidential candidate for August’s regional elections, Jubbaland state president Ahmed Mohamed Madobe said in a statement. At least two journalists and a U.N. agency staff member were also reported to have been killed.

Al Qaeda-linked Islamist group al Shabaab, which is trying to topple Somalia’s weak U.N.-backed government, immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Regional president Madobe said that three Kenyans, one Briton, two Americans, and three Tanzanians were among those killed.

Approximately at 11.30am, members of the Jubbaland security forces physically assaulted four journalists who were at the funeral of colleague journalists: Mohamed Omar Sahal and Hodan Naleyeh who were killed in #Kismayo hotel attack on Friday. #Somalia https://t.co/rznwhU7iU1 pic.twitter.com/kEMQEVnuLw — Somali Journalists Syndicate – SJS (@sjs_Somalia) July 13, 2019



“Among the dead was also a Jubbaland presidential candidate named Shuuriye. Four militants attacked the hotel. One of them was the suicide car bomber, two were shot dead and one was captured alive by Jubbaland security forces,” he said.

He said 56 people were wounded in the attack, including two Chinese citizens.

Police had said earlier all the attackers had been killed.

Jubaland’s minister of planning, Just Aw Hersi, confirmed the deaths of several prominent Somalis on Twitter.

“We admit, we are heartbroken by their sudden violent deaths. But rest assured, we are also as mad as hell because of it,” he tweeted.

Two prominent journalists – Hodan Naleyeh, TV journalist and founder of Integration TV and Mohamed Omar Sahal (aka Ga’ma Dhere), SBC TV corresponden ttragically killed in suicide bombing in Somalia: https://t.co/IUzG7fRDCv — IFEX (@IFEX) July 13, 2019

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