Mohamed Amin Adam Abdulle, of Radio Shabelle, and Hassan Zubeyr Haji Hassan, a cameraman for Al-Arabiya TV were both killed in the blast, the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) reported this morning. BBC correspondent Mohammed Olad Hassan later confirmed to IPI that a third journalist, freelance photographer Yasir Mario, was also killed.

Three ministers from the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia were also killed, and a fourth was critically wounded, after a suicide bomber dressed as a woman managed to breach the Hotel Shamo and detonate explosives, according to Hassan.

It is believed that most of the victims were students.

Universal TV’s Abdulkadir Omar Abdulleh and Reuters stringer Omar Faruk were wounded during the explosion, Hassan told IPI. NUSOJ reports that a further three journalists, Mohamed Aweys Mudey from Somaliweyn Radio, Mohamed Abdi Hussein from Hurmo Radio, and Khalid Maki Banadir of Universal TV, were also injured in the attacks.

The hotel where the attack occurred is frequented by the handful of journalists and diplomats who still visit Mogadishu, according to the BBC.

“We are saddened and outraged by this loss of life, and condemn in the strongest possible terms this appalling massacre,” said IPI Deputy Director Alison Bethel-McKenzie. “Our thoughts are with the families of our colleagues Mohamed, Hassan and Yasir, and with the families of all the victims of this senseless attack.”

The tragic deaths of Abdulle, 24, and his colleagues Hassan and Mario bring the total number of journalists killed this year in Somalia up to nine.

Somalia, one of the world’s most dangerous countries for reporters, has not seen peace in twenty years. Much of the country continues to be wracked with violence as Islamist insurgents battle the Western-backed TFG forces for control of the fractured country.

In a press release on the same incident, also released today, the International federation of Journalists said:

IFJ condemns killing of journalists in Mogadishu terrorist blast

http://www.ifj.org/en/articles/ifj-condemns-killing-of-journalists-in-mogadishu-terrorist-blast

The International Federation of the Journalists (IFJ) today strongly condemned the murders of Somali journalist Mohamed Amin Adan Abdulle, a reporter with Radio Shabelle and Hassan Zubeyr Haji Hassan, a cameraman working with Al-Arabia TV who were killed this morning in a bomb attack on a hotel in the Somali capital Mogadishu.

“We condemn this senseless attack which caused considerable loss of life, including our colleagues’,” said Aidan White, right, IFJ General Secretary. “It is a stark reminder of the dangers Somali media are exposed to in their daily work. We demand an urgent reaction from the international community to ensure their protection.”

According to the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ), an IFJ affiliate, there was a powerful bomb explosion today at the Shamo Hotel in Mogadishu during a graduation ceremony organized by Banadir University. More people are believed to have died in the blast, including nine students and three ministers of the Transitional Federal Government. NUSOJ says Mohamed Amin Adan Abdulle and Hassan Zubeyr Haji Hassan died on the spot and four other journalists were wounded.

“This is a shocking murder. The killings of Mohamed Amin and Hassan Zubeyr add to the deaths of six journalists who died earlier this year. Any circumstance in which members of media are murdered in cold blood is an attack on the nation, and the killers and masterminds of these heinous acts must be condemned,” said Omar Faruk Osman, right, NUSOJ Secretary General.

The IFJ renews its call for an international and urgent action to stop the massacre of the Somali civilian and journalists in particular, in order to restore freedom of expression and press freedom which have completely disappeared in this country.

For more information contact the IFJ at   +221 33 867 95 87